Most of us are on unfamiliar ground when it comes to the ‘third world’. What are the issues in these countries, the everyday stories of the people? What do their houses look like, and the food they eat? How much money do they earn, and how much can they buy with that? What songs do they sing, and what do they think of the rest of the world??

Ketna Patel is an award winning British–Indian artist based in Singapore. She spent the first fourteen years of her life in Kenya, and then spent the next eleven years studying in the U.K. After qualifying as an Architect, she left London to work in Singapore. For the last ten years, Ketna has lived and worked in South East Asia.

Together with her musician–artist husband Jonathan Reading, they set up an Artists’ Co-operative called UTU Artworks in 1997. Since then, they have undertaken numerous commissions and Art Projects, both private and commercial. For the last year, they have been on an intense ‘travelling studio’ trip, and have visited and catalogued (in chronological order) U.K, U.S.A, Jamaica, Bahamas, Grand Cayman Islands, Cuba, Italy, India, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Egypt, Finland, Oman & U.A.E. This exhibition, ‘Tears of Milk’, is a collection of some of the paintings and photo collage artworks that have emerged out of experiences of traveling, staying, eating, watching and working with various peoples. Stories have been recorded with cameras, video and sketchbooks, and converted into artworks.

Ketna and Jonathan’s objective, this year and for the next few years, is to be able to swim in and out of different cultures, and to learn, digest and reflect back their observations using the medium of lectures, slide shows, art exhibitions and musical concerts. Most of the work in this show has been made in their studio in Singapore, and their temporary traveling studios’ in London and Pune, India.

The exhibition then moves to Nine Clarendon Cross Gallery:
Nine Clarendon Cross Gallery
9B Clarendon Cross
Notting Hill Area
London W11 4AP
Exhibition Dates: 13 – 29 Feb 2004
Tues – Sat: 11 am – 6 pm (Mondays closed)
Sun: 11am – 5 pm
Opening Night: Fri, 20 Feb, 6.30 – 9.30 pm
Free Admission.

Top