Dominus Aeris - The Great, Grand Mirage 2009

Thukral & Tagra offer a seductive take on how Punjab’s growing middle class is drawn to, performs and elevates aesthetic histories from abroad. Dominus Aeris – The Great, Grand Mirage is a dreamlike painting of baroque buildings inspired by those still being built across India. With their pastiche of European styles, these fantasy villas and apartment blocks reflect upward social and economic aspirations, yet remain ill-suited to the local climate and disconnected from India’s own architectural forms.

The artists also explore how influences from European and North American architecture, fashion and pop culture are being mediated through young Punjabis who study and work abroad. While migration is longstanding in Punjabi culture, emigration accelerated during the second half of the twentieth century due to increased global demand for labour and local ‘push factors’. These included the 1947 partition of India, when the country was divided into India and Pakistan; political instability marked by state violence, such as Operation Blue Star in 1984; and the decline of the rural economy. In this context, the skyscape evokes the untethered experience of the diasporic worker or student, whose life may feel stretched between their country of birth and a new home elsewhere.