A&D ANNUAL 2020

Rabeea Soomro

In the Indian subcontinent, colourism is ever present to the point where skin colour dictates the outcome of your life. Rabeea Soomro’s installation ‘Alluvial Fleshes’ connects the origins of colourism to the 500 years of European colonialism in the subcontinent. Drawing on the designer’s practice in ceramics and graphic design, the installation features a glass flask suspended from a rhododendron root that drips water onto an unfired terracotta lotus bloom. Overtime, the moisture from the water and the force of the droplet melts and destroys the lotus. This installation is accompanied by a zine publication that together operate as an allegory of a self-destructive community and highlight the absurdity of using melanin to dictate social hierarchy. The zine exists as a lasting message as the ephemeral installation gradually deteriorates.