FRUIT FROM ELSEWHERE

Imitation Indian yellow pigment, shipping pallets, paint on mylar, video, text, sound
Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA
2020

Fruit from Elsewhere is a multimedia project about the Indian mango and the Indian Yellow pigment derived from it.

This speculative installation tells intertwining stories about complex trade routes, global flows of people and commodities, colonial and indigenous knowledge systems, and interspecies entanglements. It presents colonial representations of the mango fruit, hearsay and scientific reports about the use of mango in pigment extraction, and my longing for the fruit in known and unknown places.

The installation at Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, in 2020 featured an imitation version of the spheres made of powdered pigment derived from cow urine and mango leaves that were traded from South Asia to Europe, as well as paintings, a video of me eating an Indian mango in Saudi Arabia, and a projection of a text narrating personal and historical entanglements with the history of the mango.

Asma Kazmi, Fruit from Elsewhere, painting with imitation yellow pigment, 2020

In these paintings, the chained, sickly cow and mango trees are subjected to imperial and colonial exploitation, confronting us and demanding a reckoning with the violence implicit in the history of trade and art production.

The primary market for India yellow pigment was British and German artists. During this period, Western color theorists stressed the importance of keeping races separate on the canvas, and used this pigment to represent the subtleties of skin color of non-white subjects. This self-portrait engages with the complexities of cultural identity and the legacy of imperialistic art practices, positioning the mango as both a witness and a participant in these histories.

Self Portrait as Mughal Emperor Jahangir

Also featured in the Fruit from Elsewhere installation is a self portrait in which I reenact 16th-century Mughal Emperor Jahangir’s contemplative pose, directing my attention to a mango held in my palm.

Known for his keen interest in collecting items of scientific and cultural interest from across the globe, Jahangir represents a confluence of curiosity and power. Using Indian yellow pigment, I explore the mango as a consumable good, the source of sensual pleasure, a nostalgic memory, a symbol of natural wonder, and a subject of colonial exploitation.

“Jahangir was given the name World Seizer for his preoccupation with collecting. He had a keen attentiveness towards objects and he enthusiastically acquired plants, animals, minerals, and oddities from different parts of the globe. He scientifically recorded, measured, enumerated, and tested his possessions. His honorific speaks to Jahangir’s self-conception as a “naturalist”, and an acquirer of objects that were meant to amaze and impress, and project power. 

“Art historian Sugata Ray’s essay Vegetal Aesthetics in the Anthropocene (2020) argues that for the Mughals bioprospecting was not entirely envisioned through a top-down paradigm. The Mughals were a seaconscious empire and their accumulation was informed by “spectatorial regimes of seeing and ordering the natural world” rather than eco-colonial domination.

“Jahangir commissioned many royal portraits where he was often pictured with his arm lifted up to his face, holding up a distinguished object to ruminate on. In my painting, I perform Jahangir’s gesture to contemplate my own relationship to the Indian mango.”

– Asma Kazmi, from presentation at Townsend Center, 2020

Indian Mangoes by the Red Sea Video

Fruit from Elsewhere: Indian Mangoes by the Red Sea, 2020. Digital video, TRT 5:22

In the video Indian Mangoes by the Red Sea, I'm seen savoring a mango in the historic backdrop of a crumbling 7th-century neighborhood in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This scene conveys more than a moment of nourishment—it's a ritual rooted in tradition and longing. The mango, sourced from markets frequented by migrant laborers, represents not just a fruit, but a journey across cultures and histories.

Fruit from Elsewhere, 2020. Digital video, TRT 3:09

I consume the mango as taught by my mother, efficiently and without making a big mess, by softening it in my palms and sucking at the liquified mango flesh. The mango nurtures and cools my body in the intense August heat. This act, public and unreserved, becomes a celebration of heritage and a personal reconnection with my roots. It's an embodiment of my longing for the Indian mango that transcends geographical boundaries. This mango links me to a broader narrative of movement and belonging.