Artist Statement: This piano is a fusion of two concepts. The first is a dedication to the immigrant who moved from India with her spouse on a dependant visa years ago. She used to wait for handwritten letters from home and that was a big part of her narrative. Secondly, this design was also born out of an admiration for the women who apply henna at weddings for hours. They dedicate themselves to applying the patterns with precision and care on the bride's and the guests' hands for hours. I tried to simulate the henna process, dotting with my brush and drawing with markers.
Dhanashree Gadiyar is an installation artist, storyteller, and educator from India living in New York. She collects stories of immigrants living in the United States of America and then makes individual portraits or large scale installations with them. She has a MFA in Fine Arts from City College of New York (CCNY). She has done fellowships with The Laundromat Project and with the Bronx Museum in the last two years. Currently, she works as the Director of ArTech, an inclusive Arts Studio in the Bronx
