May 22, 2025
Suchitra Mattai: with abundance we meet
with abundance we meet is an installation made of ‘fruit’ (phala in Hindi) sculptures by the artist Suchitra Mattai that are ripe with possibilities, conjuring wombs and fertility spirits. The phala are made with braided and woven vintage saris and are a nod to the artist’s South Asian ancestry and will hang in the museum’s rotunda. These ‘migrant bodies’ seems to simultaneously rise and fall, emerge and disappear. The saris are from all over the world, from India, the Caribbean (Guyana, specifically), and the United States, and are sometimes gifted to the artist by friends and family. When braided and woven in this scale, the sculptures become monuments to women. They also allude to domestic labor as they are made of ‘everyday’ saris (not the ‘fancy’ ones worn for ritual celebrations and other formal occasions). The work honors craft-based processes historically associated with women and the domestic, such as early American braided rug-making. With every strip of fabric, the artist connects women of the South Asian diaspora and beyond.
Presented by
Major support provided by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation
Supported by Melyne and Jim Strickland
All exhibitions at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art are underwritten by the MBMA Exhibition Fund.
All exhibitions at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art are underwritten by the MBMA Exhibition Fund. Major annual support is provided by Kay Clark and Maggie and Milton Lovell, with generous annual funding from Anonymous, Gloria and Kenneth Boyland, Holly and Paul T. Combs, Deborah and Bob Craddock, Michael and Maria Douglass, Eleanor and William Halliday, Debi and Galen Havner, Buzzy Hussey and Hal Brunt, Jay and Kristen Keegan, the Doris S. and Hubert Kiersky Charitable Remainder Trust, Dr. James Patterson, Dr. Rushton Patterson, Carl and Valerie Person, and Bill Townsend.
Exhibition Programs
Artist
Curators
Artist
Suchitra Mattai
Suchitra Mattai is a multi-disciplinary American artist of Indo-Caribbean descent who creates mixed-media paintings, sculptures, and installations that shed light on untold histories. She often combines processes and materials once associated with the domestic sphere, such as embroidery, sewing, weaving, and found clothing, in order to honor the labor of women. Past projects include group exhibitions at MCA Chicago, ICA Boston, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Sharjah Biennial 14, MCA San Diego, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA Denver, and solo exhibitions at ICA San Francisco, Tampa Museum of Art, and Socrates Sculpture Park. This fall, she will also open a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Her works are represented in public and private collections, which include the Crocker Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Denver Art Museum, Joslyn Museum of Art, MCA San Diego, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Portland Museum of Art, Tampa Museum of Art, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Mattai received an MFA in painting and drawing and an MA in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania and is a 2023 recipient of an Anonymous Was a Woman Award.
Suchitra Mattai
Suchitra Mattai is a multi-disciplinary American artist of Indo-Caribbean descent who creates mixed-media paintings, sculptures, and installations that shed light on untold histories. She often combines processes and materials once associated with the domestic sphere, such as embroidery, sewing, weaving, and found clothing, in order to honor the labor of women. Past projects include group exhibitions at MCA Chicago, ICA Boston, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Sharjah Biennial 14, MCA San Diego, Art Gallery of Ontario, MCA Denver, and solo exhibitions at ICA San Francisco, Tampa Museum of Art, and Socrates Sculpture Park. This fall, she will also open a solo exhibition at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, DC. Her works are represented in public and private collections, which include the Crocker Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Denver Art Museum, Joslyn Museum of Art, MCA San Diego, Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Portland Museum of Art, Tampa Museum of Art, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Mattai received an MFA in painting and drawing and an MA in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania and is a 2023 recipient of an Anonymous Was a Woman Award.
Dr. Patricia Daigle
Patricia Lee Daigle is the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. She previously served as Director of The Martha and Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Memphis and Curatorial Assistant in Contemporary Art at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Daigle received her Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art
Dr. Patricia Daigle
Patricia Lee Daigle is the Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. She previously served as Director of The Martha and Robert Fogelman Galleries of Contemporary Art at the University of Memphis and Curatorial Assistant in Contemporary Art at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Daigle received her Ph.D. in the History of Art and Architecture from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Program Recordings
Resources
The 901 Black American Portraits Soundtrack
Listen to a soundtrack of Memphis music that exemplifies Black Love, Power, and Joy. The 901 Black American Portraits Soundtrack celebrates the vibrant legacy and future of Black musicians in the city of Memphis. This playlist was curated by Jared “Jay B” Boyd, a Memphis-based multimedia artist, journalist, DJ, and on-air personality.
MCA Exhibition Questionnaire
Help us generate the fullest picture possible of the MCA experience.
Submitting a questionnaire, which includes a request for an image of an artwork, is essential to be considered for part of the exhibition.
Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?
The American art theorist Linda Nochlin (1931-2017) posed this question as the title of a pioneering article in 1971. This essay was considered one of the first major works of Feminist art history, it has become a set text for those who study art internationally, and it is influential in many other fields.