Chila Kumari Singh Burman to Undertake 2020 Winter Commission for Tate Britain

FOR THIS year’s Winter Commission, Tate Britain will welcome the work of Chila Kumari Singh Burman, self described Punjabi Liverpudlian and multi disciplinary artist. Burman’s contribution will mark the fourth year of the outdoor installation designed to mark the winter season. Her installation will be unveiled in time for Diwali, the Festival of Lights; an exciting reimagining of the classical facade of the Tate Britain.

Chila Kumari Singh Burman

Burman has described her work as “messy, surreal, abstract, zen, feminist, anarchic, figurative, textured, layered and all blinged-up with a razor-sharp political awareness”. The installation will be a collage of imagery collected from Indian mythology, popular culture, female empowerment, political activism and colonial legacies.

The work will explore the themes that have defined her career; ideas of simultaneous British and Punjabi identity and heritage. Glorious colour, glitter, and neon will mark her interpretation of the Tate Britain’s exterior.

Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Dirty Bindi Girl, 2019, DACS/Armitage 2020

Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Self – High Velocity Fly Girl, 1993, DACS/Armitage 2020

Chila Kumari Singh Burman, Eat Me Now, 2013, image courtesy of the artist

 

by Connie de Pelet

This years Winter Commission will be on display between November 14, 2020 ’- January 31, 2021