Diwali | Talk: The epics and their others
Tarika Sabherwal, The Rush, 2025, ink, pencil, marker on stretched calico. Courtesy of the artist.
Event detail
Part of our Diwali celebrations, join us for a panel discussion with curator Balamohan Shingade in conversation with Tāmaki Makaurau-based artists Tarika Sabherwal and Jaymin Patel, whose practices draw on the epic stories, mythologies and histories of South Asia.
The panel discussion will feature artist talks and retellings of episodes from epics such as the Ramayana and Mahabharata. The artists will talk about how their own practice is influenced by mythology and storytelling and how our inherited cultural stories can evolve and change through artistic expression.
Participants will explore what happens when familiar stories are approached through marginalised viewpoints, including queer and feminist, Indigenous and anti-caste, and diasporic perspectives.
This is a free event, but please book a ticket to reserve your space.
Proudly supported by Auckland Council Events.
About the contributors
Balamohan Shingade
Balamohan Shingade is a writer, curator, and researcher living in Titirangi. He has published essays on contemporary art, Indigenous-settler relations, authoritarian populism, and the Indian diaspora in Aotearoa New Zealand. He is also an occasional singer of Hindustani music. He runs Spoor Books with Erena Shingade, an independent publisher, community platform, and online bookstore featuring titles from India and beyond.
Tarika Sabherwal
Tarika Sabherwal is an Indian-born artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her practice explores cultural, conceptual and material contradictions, drawing on personal memories, pop culture, mythologies and superstitions to question inherited narratives. She examines how visual language shapes belonging, influences worldviews and turns into what is accepted as collective knowledge or the norm. Her recent exhibitions include Glyphs (2026) at Galleryske, New Delhi; Echo (2025) at Artspace Aotearoa; Alag (2025) at Season Gallery; Aaj kal (2024) at CoCA, Ōtautahi Christchurch; Ragini and her nine wives (2024) at RM Gallery; and Kiss Taraf (2023) at The Art Paper HQ.
Jaymin Patel
Jaymin Patel is an Indian-born artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Working across painting and sculpture, he explores identity, belonging, cultural hybridity and the complexities of growing up between Indian heritage and New Zealand life. Raised in Morrinsville, Waikato, in a Gujarati Indian family, his practice is deeply informed by his upbringing in his parents' dairy. This space serves as both a personal archive and a place of cultural connection, bringing together themes of family history, migration, community, labour and life in Aotearoa New Zealand.
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