Nalini Malani

It all went wrong on Friday the 13th in March 2020: artist Nalini Malani (b. 1946, Karachi, formerly undivided India) had to travel from Barcelona to Amsterdam. The scale and severity of the COVID-19 pandemic quickly became apparent in Europe as one country after another closed its borders. Malani could see no way of returning to her home in Mumbai, India. The Netherlands became her refuge, a short stay that turned into more than a year. Malani can never stop working, so she focused on drawing, something she could still do even without her studio and her usual materials. Every day at the kitchen table, she drew things that came from her relentless stream of consciousness, and reflected the social and political circumstances in the world. Some have aggressive line work and sharply worded written messages, while others have more vulnerable imagery, colourful and humorous. Malani made a total of 89 drawings which together form the installation: Exile ? Dreams ? Longing (April 2020 ? April 2021). Kunstmuseum Den Haag will be showing the work in its entirety for the first time in the Project Gallery.00Exhibition: Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The Hague, The Netherlands (04.09-17.10.2021).