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Body of art
Updated On: 13 January, 2012 06:54 AM IST | | Soma Das
The exhibition, At Home, by award-winning British Indian artist Hetain Patel examines issues of identity through the medium of photographs and videos. Interestingly, it drives home the point that the body can actually be a cultural marker; Soma Das soaked in the story boards
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The exhibition, At Home, by award-winning British Indian artist Hetain Patel examines issues of identity through the medium of photographs and videos. Interestingly, it drives home the point that the body can actually be a cultural marker; Soma Das soaked in the story boards
As an Indian boy growing up in a predominantly white neighbourhood in Bolton (Manchester, UK), Hetain Patel experienced the good, bad and ugly side of ethnicity.
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| First Dance depicts Eva in her bridal finery in an Indian neighbourhood in the UK, Mamai depicts artist Hetain Patel's grandmotheru00a0 |
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While on the one hand, the 80s were marked by negative bias towards immigrants, during the 90s with India embracing an open economy policy, there was greater awareness about the country and it became hip to be Indian.
"It was a bizarre situation where I ended up feeling like a foreigner in India due to my accent and birthplace and amongst the minority community in the UK due to my Indian roots," says Patel, who graduated from Nottingham Trent University in 2003 and worked as a freelance music and fashion photographer for a brief span of time.
When he chose to become a practicing artist, those experiences spurred him to explore his Indian heritage and focus on issues of cultural identity through performing arts.
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| The mehendi patterns sported by Patel's wife Eva are cultural markers of identity Read Next Story Trending StoriesLatest Photos |
