Ajay Kurian, Resident Artist Lecture 2023

Ajay Kurian gives a lecture at Skowhegan where he shows a series of slides that looks at his interdisciplinary practice which spans sculpture, collaboration, performance, video, writing, installation, painting, drawing, among others. Kurian explores the role language has played for him as an artist, particularly in his sculptural work, and how this has informed his writing practice. Throughout the lecture, Kurian shows a series of videos and images, and presents his writings to the audience. Kurian’s writing explores many themes, which include but are not limited to critical theory, science fiction, diasporic histories and its intersection with gender, race, geography and class, the politics of animals, plants, food, nature, gardens, autobiography, and pop culture. One of the questions Kurian thinks through his practice is how to be rooted without ground, and how that is connected to his diasporic existence. Kurian speaks on this further, stating that migrations can lead to people no longer recognizing their own roots, and how we can come to terms with being rooted without ground.