Over the past year, multidisciplinary artist Miles Saraswat has been working with a big idea. He looks upon spiritual reincarnation as a metaphor for migration, movement, change, and transition. And he has brought this concept to life in a series of gestural paintings.
“When I make these paintings, they usually start with poetry and writing—and automatic writing,” Saraswat tells Pancouver over Zoom.
He draws upon generational storytelling, sometimes from within his family, and then goes into the studio.
“Automatic approaches to painting create these gestural marks that I feel mimic these feelings and emotions,” he says.
Automatism is a means of creating art without conscious thought, drawing upon the unconscious. Saraswat designed two Lunar New Year lanterns at the Bentall Centre embodying this approach.
One of the lanterns, YOU FEED ME, I EAT AS YOU, was originally painted on patterned fabric reminiscent of those in his family. Saraswat reveals that as he created this piece, he was reflecting on his relationship with his mother and the sacrifice of immigration. He also considered how he carries what his mother has had to endure.
“There’s this belief when you migrate, you will seek a better life, and then you’ll have a better life for your children,” Saraswat states. “But what is actually true is that life can present many challenges. And we’ll actually just be reliving these same challenges again, no matter what.”
Saraswat considers impact of migration on the diaspora
For a second lantern design, LMFAO GUYS THAT WASN’T ME, he blended acrylic, oil pastels, and oil stick on top over an unstretched canvas. This resulted from his ruminations on how people can create multiple versions of the “self”. He also wondered about how these versions can come in conflict with one another, especially in times of transition.
“That’s why I have these different lines and these circles,” Saraswat explains. “They all kind of lay on top of one another, like a representation of these different feelings of self and selfhood that can come out of these moments of mass migration or having to move all the time.”
Once again, this speaks to the theme of reincarnation as a metaphor for the contemporary feeling of migration.
“I’m interested in migration and movement and what that means for the diaspora,” Saraswat says.
The two Saraswat-designed lanterns are among six on display in the Brave the Wind exhibition at the Bentall Centre until March 9. Brave the Wind includes two lanterns designed by Anu Chouhan and another two by Jag Nagra. All three artists trace their family roots back to the South Asian subcontinent.
The Asian-Canadian Special Events Association has also curated other Lantern City exhibitions at šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square (north plaza in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery), Pendulum Gallery, Robson Plaza, and Granville Island.
Saraswat has a wide-ranging artistic practice, encompasses painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, music, and writing. Currently a student at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, he’s thrilled that the Lantern City organizers reached out to him for their Lunar New Year Project.
“I think it’s a great thing to be sharing our cultures in a way that’s respectful, in a way that allows it to breathe and be authentic,” Saraswat says. “So, I’m very happy and very proud to be a part of this.”
Exhibition details
The Asian-Canadian Special Events Association is presenting Brave the Wind at the Bentall Centre until March 9. To discover more about The Lantern City exhibitions, visit the website. Follow Miles Saraswat on Instagram @milessaraswat. Follow Pancouver on X @PancouverMedia and Instagram @PancouverMedia.
