Tangled Hierarchy: an interview with Jitish Kallat

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article presents an interview with artist Jitish Kallat, on the occasion of his curation of the exhibition, Tangled Hierarchy (2 June–10 September 2022), at the John Hansard Gallery (UK); and later staged at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale in India (13 December 2022–10 April 2023). The focal point of the exhibition are five brief notes written by Mahatma Gandhi on the backs of old envelopes, which Kallat viewed in the Archives of the University of Southampton. Penned on 2 June 1947, as a means of communication with Lord Mountbatten despite Gandhi undertaking a vow of silence, the envelopes pertain to the imminent partition of the Indian subcontinent. Opening on 2 June 2022, so marking 75 years of the momentous meeting, Tangled Hierarchy presented a carefully curated display of historically and geographically diverse contributions; establishing a complex, layered reading of histories, perspectives and meanings.