PACH 21 opens Sajani Neeraja’s solo exhibit “One Foot In, One Foot Out.”
Photos and review by Cara Col
Chicago-based activist, scientist, and “outsider” artist Sajani Neeraja opened their debut solo exhibition at PACH 21, a satellite location of Pilsen Arts and Community House that focuses on hosting special events highlighting local emerging artists, and it marks the continuation of their mission at their main hub on 18th Street.
The exhibition titled “One Foot In, One Foot Out” reflects the exploration of the physical and the imagined present in Sajani’s art. The various discussions and musical performances throughout the opening served as an ode to the experiences and knowledge we gain by traversing them.
Multi-instrumentalist Matthew Davis set the scene as people walked throughout the salon, settling in and checking out the art. Davis offered a groovy ambient set, switching between patching his synth in real time and accompanying it with acoustic instruments such as a guitar, a horn, various bells, and his vocals.
It was the perfect environment to peruse Sajani’s art that hangs throughout PACH 21.
Many pieces are watercolor paintings, mixed media, and prints. All of them portray events and places that we routinely encounter: taking a walk with a friend, or passing by the 54/Cermak station.
Through bright watercolors, meditative shapes, and expressive movement, each piece taps into the subconscious experiences that we often take for granted as each day passes. Sajani’s abstractions of reality mindfully experience daily life, taking each sight, smell, touch, and sound, and producing valuable knowledge from them; encouraging the viewer to slow down, root one foot down in the ground beneath you, and dip the other in a stream of (sub)consciousness.
Musicians Sonny Patel and Jess Anzaldúa joined Sajani in introducing the exhibit and performers. They discussed how their experiences as immigrants from the Global South inform their creative decisions, exploring the feelings many immigrants share as having “one foot in, one foot out.”
We live between planes of experience through language, culture, and politics. This experience can be a struggle; what you know to be true on one plane may be painfully false in the other. But it can also be rewarding, as the knowledge gained from existing in two different realities can be liberating.
The opening played out like a celebration of the knowledge we get when we revel in this dialectical state, of the knowledge that immigrants carry within.
Sajani then presented the first act of the night, one that they themselves were a part of alongside Pablo Tinjares, Ariel Garcia, and Mindy Liu. The string quartet performed a cover of Sufjan Stevens’ “Mystery of Love,” a song about the clouded intuitiveness of affection.
Next, Nexus J. took the stage with an acapella performance of two songs that reflected the human desire for connection beyond what is immediately perceivable.
Nexus J. engaged in conversation with the audience before singing, asking them various questions that prompted an interpretation of the night’s theme. They stated that no matter if you follow religion, spirituality, science, or philosophy, there is something within all of us that yearns to know something bigger than us. Nexus J.’s masterful vocal technique added weight to each lyric they sang, and the robustness of their voice could trick you into imagining the instrumentals yourself.
Afterwards, the audience was treated to a viewing of the film The Art of Masala directed by Ronnie Chatterjee. The short film is a peek into the life of the Chicago South Asian drag performer Masala Sapphire, the host of the longest-standing queer South Asian party in Chicago, Jai Ho.
In the film, Masala Sapphire showed off some of her handmade outfits; some beautiful flowing dresses made from a gifted saree, and others as camp as a giant bagel. All the while, she explained her desire to perform in drag coming from an innate instinct to create, especially when holding a mundane day job: one foot in survival, one foot in creation.
After a short intermission, the last performance of the night was the South Asian and Latine fusion musical collective Chai y Cafe. Singer Stephanie Alama Hernandez and guitarist James Sud joined Sonny on the bansuri and Jess on percussion, performing original songs written by Stephanie. Matthew Davis also joined them. The soft and wispy melodies of the bansuri wove themselves into the punctuated rhythms of the bongos, powerfully carrying each lyric sung. At one point, the audience was encouraged to sing along to a work song written by Stephanie.
Matthew Davis closed out the night as attendees continued to mingle among the art and each other. By the end of the evening, “One Foot In, One Foot Out” had transformed into a communal meditation on the value of existing between worlds. Through visual art, music, film, and conversation, Sajani and her comrades demonstrated how knowledge is generated in spaces between certainty and ambiguity, memory and imagination, the known and the foreign.
Read more reviews here!
Gallery:
Links:
Sajani:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saju_makes/
Official: https://www.pilsenartscommunityhouse.org/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pilsenartscommunityhouse
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pilsenartscommunityhouse
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pilsenartscommunityhouse
