Red Threads Exhibition

Here in the outer suburbs of London, it is easy to collude with the notion that ‘culture’ is located in central London, or in the case of the visual arts, in East London. It is certainly more visible in these areas, but in looking ‘over there’, we are often in danger of missing the gems that lie beneath our very feet.

Poulomi Desai has worked and exhibited all over the world. Harrow is her adopted home territory-but not somewhere she is widely known or celebrated for her work as an artist.

The aim of this exhibition, supported by Arts Council England, is to change this situation: by bringing a body of Poulomi’s work to Harrow, running an open discussion/seminar for any one interested, offering workshops based around the show for young people, and promoting the book Red Threads a collaboration with Parminder Sekhon.

This selection of photographs on show challenges us to look, think and imagine beyond the surface of what we see, what we think we know, what we may hope for, and what we fear, when we encounter another human being.

“There is an overt sexuality to the almost hidden images and an honesty to the engaging stares of the subjects.. Poulomi’s series of pictures opens a series of questions about the observer’s own preconceptions” Dazed and Confused

“The images.., look at first sight like portraits of glamorous young Asian women and respectable older ladies. Her irreverent aim is to shatter the contours of these fixed notions of sexual, national, cultural, personal, political and diasporic identities.. Her work is resolutely hybridised.” Professor Stuart Hall from “Different” Published by Phaidon