Kalpesh Lathigra is a British artist
Episode 348: Kalpesh Lathigra is a British artist whose new book Memoire Temporelle explores an emotional resonance with Bombay, India.
Kalpesh, a British citizen, has a particular history with the Indian city. As with many families who migrated to Britain from former colonies, Lathigra’s family migrated from India via Africa to Britain, a not uncommon pursuit. In doing so, and from the historical perspective of being brought between multiple cultures, Kalpesh understands India through several layers of real and enforced memory. Throughout the conversation, Kalpesh walks me through his history, but also how those fragments of borrowed memories awaken in him and become fodder for his work. These memories are sometimes opaque and act as a gestural potential for his images.
After eight trips to Bombay, Lathigra returned to Britain to sort through his images, seeing what made sense to him as a British artist. The outcome is a book that plays with Indian traditions but from the position of both in and outside of the culture. It is lyrical and beautiful. Memoire Temporelle is a brilliant investigation of Lathigra’s position. Please listen to Lathigra and his perspectives on making the book.
