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Ghadial, Meenakashi, Embrace, Oil Paint and Graphite.jpeg
Diptych: Embrace

Meenakashi Ghadial

Oil Paint and Graphite on Aluminum
2022

Meenakashi Ghadial is a visual artist from Brampton, Ontario currently based in Katarokwi/Kingston completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and Bachelor of Education at Queen’s University. Her current work focuses on figurative oil paintings that explore themes of marriage, love, intimacy, and queer identity. Her inspiration draws from her experience navigating her queer identity as a second-generation immigrant in her family. Through the use of current documentation as well as archival family material, Meenakashi creates narratives that explore the particularities of intergenerational experiences. 

In her diptych "Embrace", she depicts both archival family imagery from her parents wedding album with present day imagery from her current life. Through the juxtaposition of time, She opens a dialogue that questions the way cars function in traditional Sikh weddings, and her life as a queer person living in Canada. The car often embodies heteronormative practices in traditional Sikh weddings as it represents the moment the bride is given away to the groom's family, usually through an arranged marriage. For Meenakashi, the car is a safe, liminal space for her to navigate the nuances of being in a queer relationship as a person of colour by offering her safety and privacy. Through her use of metal as a substrate for her paintings, she is able to continually challenge the modalities of how cars function in society.

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