Sancintya Mohini Simpson is an artist and researcher based in Brisbane, Australia. Her practice addresses the impact of colonisation on the historical and lived experiences of her family, and more broadly traces the movements and passages of indentured labourers from India to South Africa during the late 1800s and throughout the early 1900s. Her interdisciplinary practice draws on the archive to explore the complexities of migration, memory and trauma. Simpson’s work moves between painting and video, to poetry and performance, developing narratives and rituals, which she uses to navigate family history and embed wider narratives surrounding the Indian indenture diaspora community.
The Language of Indenture
Sancintya Mohini Simpson, 2019.
Sound design: Isha Ram Das
Video, sound, 6mins 19sec
Sitting with my mother during a heatwave on a summer’s afternoon, we talk about language, culture and loss.
The Language of Indenture references the sounds of experimental documentary and ethnographic imagery and captioning. Putting the songs of Indians indentured in South Africa in the central position and creating a new archive of how language has shifted, been lost and rewritten.
Sancintya Mohini Simpson is an artist and researcher based in Brisbane, Australia. Her practice addresses the impact of colonisation on the historical and lived experiences of her family, and more broadly traces the movements and passages of indentured labourers from India to South Africa during the late 1800s and throughout the early 1900s. Her interdisciplinary practice draws on the archive to explore the complexities of migration, memory and trauma. Simpson’s work moves between painting and video, to poetry and performance, developing narratives and rituals, which she uses to navigate family history and embed wider narratives surrounding the Indian indenture diaspora community.
The Language of Indenture
Sancintya Mohini Simpson, 2019.
Sound design: Isha Ram Das
Video, sound, 6mins 19sec
Sitting with my mother during a heatwave on a summer’s afternoon, we talk about language, culture and loss.
The Language of Indenture references the sounds of experimental documentary and ethnographic imagery and captioning. Putting the songs of Indians indentured in South Africa in the central position and creating a new archive of how language has shifted, been lost and rewritten.
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Runway Journal is produced by a voluntary board and pay our contributors above industry rates. If you have found some delight in this content, please consider a one-time or recurring monthly donation.
Runway Journal acknowledges the custodians of the nations our digital platform reaches.
We extend this acknowledgment to our First Nations writers, artists and audiences.
Runway is supported by