10 Questions with Suridh Das-Hassan
THE ORIGINAL ISSUE10 Art Magazine | Featured Artist
Visual artist Suridh Das-Hassan first picked up photography as a youngster in North London and quickly developed a passion for all things film. His work is heavily influenced by his Indonesian roots and his upbringing by a single mother and Swedish-Indian grandparents. As a result, his works focus on cultural and ethnic identity as well as memory and movement, particularly within the urban environment.
Focusing on documentary filmmaking, he founded creative studio theSRK and went on to produce art and illustration books, including the Stickerbomb books series as well as award-winning documentaries and commercial work. 'Soka Afrika' was shortlisted for the One World Media Awards and won the best picture award at several festivals.
Suridh has spent the past ten years living across South-East Asia, running his studio and curating exhibitions, but over the last few years, he has rediscovered his love of creating visual art through photography, mixed media, and filmmaking. In 2019 he directed his first short fiction film Sodo Express which has won a number of awards.
Now back in London, his artwork was recently selected by the British Journal of Photography to be featured as part of the Edition 365 New Art show.
Suridh Das-Hassan - Portrait
ARTIST STATEMENT
Traditionally, Suridh's work has been about documentation, investigation, and collaboration. Whether it be a book, film, or photograph, he builds a sense of identity, being that of an individual, group or even a concept or idea. He then presents how those overlapping systems work - the cultural and political forces that impact everyone. Key themes of his work include cultural and ethnic identity, memory, and movement, particularly within the urban environment.
Ceremony, Mixed media, 16x9.2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
‘Ceremony’ contains a paper background that is an extract from my Indonesian (Buginese) family book which is over 150 years old. The languages are Lontara, Buginese and Arabic.
The left image is of my great-grandfather (back row second left) and various unidentifiable friends and family.
The top right image is of Gustaf Olof (Gösta) Broms, my Swedish/English great grandfather. He wears full Swedish regalia. The bottom right image is of my uncle Kartick Das (far right) taking part in National Cadet corp. He recently passed away from alcoholism.
Reconstruction Of Self (i) | PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Reconstruction Of Self (i) is an intensely personal journey through family, power, colonialism and identity.
Each panel within this series contains four elements. A photographic triptych (colour or black and white) which is paired with documents from my family archive. The depictions of family, juxtaposed through time presented with family archival ephemera, presents an idea of representation and exposes the intricate social and human design which has resulted in my own existence.
This work proposes that self, which can feel abstract and arbitrary are rooted in social process and location and we as a whole are made up of all these narratives.
INTERVIEW
First of all, introduce yourself to our readers. How did you start getting involved with art? And when did you realize you wanted to be an artist?
Hey all, I'm Suridh Das-Hassan, and I'm a filmmaker and visual artist who has recently relocated back to London after spending the past 12 years living around Southeast Asia. I'm a half-Indonesian, part Bengali-Indian and part Swedish Brit, which gives me multiple identity issues that I have learnt to channel through my films, photos, and artwork.
I started my creative journey in my early teens when I was gifted an old-school Nikon FM camera. I took portraits, documented friends, and it allowed me to capture moments that later evolved into documentary filmmaking.
I have only recently started to consider myself an artist, and it's taken a big mental shift. My time working around documentaries led me to work in and around television, advertising, and over the years of work, I stopped making my own films and artwork. But when I realised that I was producing work that I didn't like, I stopped, reassessed, and started over again. In the past few years, I've fallen back in love with visual arts, taking pictures, building my own artwork, and I'm now moving towards fiction-based filmmaking.
Patriarchs, Mixed media, 16x9,2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
'Patriarchs' contains a fragile paper background that is an extract from my own Indonesian (Buginese) family book which is over 150 years old. The languages seen are Lontara, Buginese and Arabic.
The top left image is of Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India with my grandfather, Satijiban Das (in black trousers) walking just behind him. They arrived in Gauhati, Assam (late 1940s) shortly after the partition of India. Far right is Firoze Gandhi who would later marry Indira Gandhi.
The bottom left image is of my uncle Amran Hassan and his wife during their traditional Bugis wedding. The image on the right is Gustaf Olof (Gösta) Broms at his home in East Grinstead, UK approximately 1918. My uncle Alistair Broms sits on his shoulders whilst my grandmother Rosemary Broms Das sits on his brother's (Uncle Robert) shoulders.
You mainly work with photography and filmmaking. Why did you choose these mediums, and what do they represent for you?
Without wanting to sound pretentious, those mediums chose me. From being given my first 35mm camera to then learning quickly that filmmaking, especially documentary filmmaking, gives you access and opportunities to meet people and enter different worlds. This was an intoxicating reveal to me. I still remember the day as a 17-year-old just being let into a nightclub as I was shooting there, no questions asked. Eventually, I was shooting and filming celebrities, and it evolved into something more journalistic, covering real issues, from human trafficking to corruption. These mediums taught me how to fit in, be approachable, approach others, and always be humble. It has also given me a unique insight into different industries, different issues, and different cultures.
For me, filmmaking and photography are mediums to express and explore many ideas in different artistic ways. At times it can be more abstract and esoteric and other times more explicit. It all depends, and that's up to the image-maker - they are just powerful universal mediums.
How would you define yourself as an artist? What differentiate you from the others?
I really enjoy documenting subcultures and scenes, music, issues, ideas, cultures. It has never been about a singular concept, more the art and the act of documentation itself and the process that goes into making something. That is why I still work in and around book publishing. I'm excited to work with different artists to uncover their work, document where they are at. It is also why I work with archive - uncovering and highlighting stories, mine or others, at a microscopic level and producing something for people to understand and reflect on.
What I believe makes me unique and different is not only my idea of documentation but my diverse background, both in my ethnicity and my experience living in different countries. This has provided me with a unique lens and filter for what I do. So now, even as I venture into fiction filmmaking, there is an element of purpose and detail that I've gained from my upbringing that I'm putting into my next films and next artworks.
Matriarchs 1, Mixed media, 16x9,2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
'Matriarchs 1' features, top left, my great-great grandmother Annie Sarah Ware. Her granddaughter and my grandmother, Rosemary Das, features in the bottom left image taken at a ladies event in Assam, India. The full colour image on the right is my aunty Wildana Hassan getting married in full Bugis dress. The background is an aerogram sent from my great grandmother Violet Broms to my grandmother in 1967.
Matriarchs 2, Mixed media, 16x9,2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
‘Matriarchs 2’ contains an aerogram as a background sent from my great grandmother Violet Broms to my grandmother in 1967.
Top left image is from The Grand Hotel, 1954, taken by Aaron Joshua. My grandmother sits at the left corner of the table. The bottom image is my grandmother (father's side) and friends and relatives from Indonesia. The image to the right is my great grandmother Violet Broms with my grandmother.
You have lived and worked in South-East Asia for over ten years before returning to London. How do these different environments influence your work?
The entire region has shaped me in great ways, and it can be very difficult to articulate as I feel I'm still processing so much. With so many different situations I've encountered over the years, learning languages, interacting with a wide variety of people and different cities, I feel sharper cognitively and more focused.
From a visual level, the ASEAN region has given me so much colour and vibrancy and has provided inspiration for stories and work I have yet to make. I have so many concepts based on my experiences in Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, and Singapore that will be the basis of much of my work to come. The streets, the people, the characters, ideas, the systems, the structures, all are contributing to hopefully what will be quite a prolific period for me.
Your statement mentions "cultural and ethnic identity, memory and movement, particularly within the urban environment" as key themes of your production. Where do you get your inspiration from? Both visually and conceptually?
Music, architecture, and culture have always been massively influential. The energy of cities, the identity of those who live there, the migrant stories of London all find their way into my work which is why living away from the UK for over a decade was so important. To have fresh inspiration on a daily basis is something I massively crave. The work of my friends is also very influential, from street artists, fine artists, and music producers. A conversation with them often gives me the drive to continue and keep ongoing.
What messages are you trying to convey with your art? In other words, what would you like the viewers to learn from your works?
My latest short film Sodo Express is about the artist's struggle and the extent to which many of us will go to get recognition. Another project I'm working on uses my family archive of photography, letters, books, and that all becomes a piece about me documenting my own struggles with my own cultural identity.
Much of my work is about these struggles, and what is next for me is making sure they are infused with that celebration of difference.
Education, Mixed media, 16x9,2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
'Education' contains a paper background that is an extract from my Indonesian (Buginese) family book. This extract is purely in Arabic and focuses on our family genealogy.
The top left image is my grandmother, middle row, second from the right and her class friends at Battle Abbey School in East Sussex, UK.
Bottom image is from the community around my grandfather in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. The image on the right is my grandmother flanked by my uncle Kartick and my mother Joya Das.
In your work, you touch upon important questions of our times, like cultural and ethnic identity. Do you think art can serve as a universal language to express complex concepts without needing translation?
When one visits a gallery and comes across a local artist, you are transported to an idea, an issue, a concept that is rooted in a hyper-local way. That is the universality of art that I enjoy. Your own filter, experiences, culture, and identity can infer ideas when confronted with an artwork, and then you get some meaning from that interaction.
I always look at street art and graffiti as a great examples of this. When you arrive in a new city, and you see the tags in the street and the pieces of artwork in the different areas, you quickly get an idea of who is prolific, who is consistent, what the local style is, or even messages and mediums used. Again this is universal and needs no translation, but it is dependent on your own experiences and ideas and what you take from what you see is instant.
Traveling seems to be a fundamental part of your work. How did the global pandemic impact your work? Did you find yourself reflecting on this subject, or did you avoid it altogether? And did you find any difference in your approach to art now, compared to the pre-pandemic times?
Lockdown and quarantine have been a big part of the last few years of my life, especially as I moved internationally three times during the pandemic. Like everyone, I have had time to reflect and it has reaffirmed my need to continue to create. While there have been negative impacts from the pandemic, I have tried to use the experience in a positive way. The stark visual changes you would see in the streets of Jakarta, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap allowed me space to document and take pictures which then helped me build some consistency that I didn't realize I needed. The pandemic also gave me time to focus, and one particular photograph I took during one of my quarantines went on to be selected for the Edition 365, British Journal Of Photography New Art Show. This gave me a lot of confidence that I was on the right track working at an intersection between filmmaking, documentary, photography and art.
Family, Mixed media, 16x9,2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
'Family' contains a paper background that is an extract from my Indonesian (Buginese) family book which is over 150 years old. The languages are Lontara, Buginese and Arabic.
The image to the left is in a rural part of Mizoram, the north-east of India. It features my mother Joya Das (approximately 4years old) in the middle of the picture. My grandmother Rosemary Das sits by her side. The picture is made up of administrators, missionaries, helpers and it was taken very soon after the partition of India.
The top right image is of my grandfather's family in Central Sulawesi, Indonesia.
The bottom right is my grandmother with her family around her in East Grinstead, UK.
Subjects, Mixed media, 16x9,2 in, 2021 © Suridh Das-Hassan
'Subjects' is a collage featuring the old passports of my grandfather Satijiban Das who was born under British rule and received a British Empire passport. The image to the left is my grandfather's passport photo.
The top image is my grandmother Rosemary Das. The two would later meet in London and marry. The bottom image is her father and my great grandfather Gustaf Olof Broms who served as the Swedish attache to the UK.
Over the past two years, we have witnessed major changes in the art world, from online exhibitions and art fairs to NFTs. What do you think of these recent changes? Do you miss the art world as it was before the pandemic, or do you see more opportunities now?
I don't miss the art world before the pandemic as it still exists in much the same way. Many, however, have suffered, especially small galleries who have had to close or have had to get very creative just to stay alive. But people are slowly emerging, art shows are slowly taking place, buyers and sellers still congregate both online and physically. I do find the rise of online exhibitions exciting - not just galleries of images, but well-designed spaces with great interactivity so people can engage with art in very new accessible surroundings.
The NFT conversation will also be top of the agenda over the coming years. It is exciting but is loaded with many issues. The vast amount of energy needed to produce an NFT is pretty crazy - a single crypto art can consume as much energy as an entire artist studio uses over a couple of years. That isn't sustainable, and artists don't even realize the hypocrisy around it all as many follow the trend. I have minted two NFTs, but it's left me feeling a bit confused on what to do next and what it all really means.
Finally, what are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?
I've set myself up for a busy year, with a few projects already in the works. I'm collaborating on a fiction screenplay with a great writer, and together we've cooked up a really interesting film that takes my themes of cultural identity and the artist struggle and puts them into a noir-Esque British indie film. I'm building upon a photo collage project that takes my family archive and turns it into something new - I'm hoping to exhibit it later this year. Also, I've launched a small art book publishing business designed to support other artists - so I'm really excited for the next few years.
