Nilima Sheikh at the Art Institute of Chicago

I went the other day to the Art Institute of Chicago and saw a new exhibit by Indian artist Nilima Sheikh.  Her works have been gathering prominence internationally since at least 1984, and she has been featured at Art Basel events where major collectors shop for modern art.  But this is her first museum exhibit, at least in the United States.

It is gorgeous, 10 large banners filled with many intricate images of vivid color and great beauty.  The title is "Each Night, Put Kashmir in Your Dreams"  which comes from a line in a poem by Agha Shahid Ali.

 The poem comes from a much-admired 1997 volume, The Country Without a Post Office, which is full of poetry about Kashmir.

Dreaming about Kashmir may be a theme with Indian artists.  The main character in Salman Rushdie's 1980 book, Midnight's Children also dreams of Kashmir just before a seminal shift in his life.

All the works in the Sheikh exhibit explore the many cultures and long history, often violent, of the Kashmir Valley.  (Kashmir now is part of India but has been a subject of contention and bloody flare-ups between India and Pakistan since their partition in 1947.)

Here Sheikh examines not the modern history but Kashmir in the deep past and current memory. The region was, and apparently for artists, still is regarded as paradise on earth.

 There are references to the Silk Road, which connected Kashmir with what is now China and other parts of Asia and the Middle East.  In addition to Hindu and Islam, it traces the influences of Persia, Buddhism and Sufism.  There are many references to poetry, and the back of  each banner is filled with writing from various backgrounds, ancient to modern.

As I said, it is all quite beautiful.  But it made me wish I knew a lot more about Eastern history and literature and that I had actually visited Kashmir.  If I were better educated in these subjects, I think I would have enjoyed Sheik's art all the more.

In my first paragraph, I referenced Nilima Sheikh's emergence into Western awareness in 1984.  That year she released a series of 12 small tempera paintings entitled When Champa Grew Up that traced the life of an Indian girl from childhood through marriage and then her torture and immolation by her husband's family.  The work was much praised and very well received.

I found an image of one of the 12 works and posted it on my computer before I came to Chicago, but just now I deleted it inadvertently.  You can learn more about When Champa Grew Up online.

I am severely computer-constrained at the moment but will post again as soon as I am able.