Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts is pleased to announce the Open Studio for our resident
artist Tsering Motup Siddho.
Based in Ladakh, Motup is one among the few from this cold desert situated at 3500 meters
(and above), who spent a lot of time away from home through his childhood, adolescence, and
the transition into adulthood, before returning home. Most Ladakhis remain locked to this
remote land and also its unique climate, culture and milieu.
Even when they do step out of their own homeland, they are perceived as visitors as they stand
out from the crowd. Some Ladakhis travel for work following the seasonal tourist cycle that
traverses the very north of their home to the other extreme of India in the south.
In the Mirror of the Other is Motup’s observation of life as a resident artist that he shares
through Ladakhi stories and lifestyle temporarily poised and juxtaposed in the state of Goa. The
two diametrically opposite geographies and distinct cultures have the common thread of
tourism - they both welcome the outsider, though only temporarily. They rely on the other.
They are dependent on the other.
Motup unravels his feelings through silent observations of self, of home in a cultural
architecture and society, of his native childhood friends who run a small tourism business in
Goa with whom he coincidentally studied in the south of India, and also of other Ladakhis who
are temporarily finding their ways and also livelihoods in the southern state. He documents the
very nature of his observations, perceptions and interpretations as a performance within these
conditions - where the dual complexities of home and nostalgia of his temporal home is perhaps understood by the effect of the immediate surroundings, which in this case is Goa.
As for Motup and his friends, this time as a temporary ‘resident’ allowed them to meet and dive
into the memory of south India, which he connects with via food, culture, architecture and
other aspects of everyday life. In the midst of these emotions, he tries to understand his
personal identity as well as social and how all of these encounters perform to shape the idea of
identity from every now to then, and from time to time - to become something else. This is also
conveyed in his work as everything is alluding to becoming something or merely nothing and
remains in a desperate state of encountering meaninglessness.
Through these waves of encounters and experiences, Motup presents what he sees in the
mirror of the other. Visitors can enter the mirror through his work spread across an installation
within a situated personal space, conversations around it, and social experiences such as
sharing over a friendly exchange of stories and culture.
You are invited to enter the mirror through his work spread across an installation within a
situated personal space, conversations around it, and social experiences such as a friendly
exchange of stories and culture, over food.
In the Mirror of the Other is open for viewing from 13-15 April 2023
On 13th April at 6 pm, Motup will be in conversation with his residency mentor, Shazeb Shaikh
and Sunaparanta’s Leandre D'Souza. A shared food experience will follow this conversation,
including Motup cooking dinner for visitors in celebration of his heritage.
Entry free and Open to all! Prior registration is required.
At Sunaparanta Goa Centre for the Arts, Altinho, Panaji – Goa
Tsering Motup Siddho is a multidisciplinary artist based in Leh-Ladakh, India, who holds a post-
graduate degree from Shiv Nadar University in Delhi. He expresses himself through different forms of mediums such as drawings, paintings, photographs, video and performances, to
thereby talk about identity and other fundamental issues regarding the socio-cultural
constitution of selfhood vis-Ã -vis questions of identity, memory, home and migration which
spring from his own unique Ladakhi identity.
About the Artist-In-Residence Lab (AIR-L)
The Artist-In-Residence Lab (AIR-L) is designed to nurture creativity, research and
experimentation. It offers a space for artists and cultural operators to critically examine existing
practices through exchange and dialogue, forging new connections among practitioners across
disciplines. An immersive residency programme, AIR-L offers an experiential opportunity of
interdisciplinary research and exchange. It encourages projects that address new approaches
related to our contemporary context and that can offer new understandings and perspectives
of our society.