Play: De-Colonial Subversion and Emotional Refuge

An exhibition from 2026 Christine Risley Award Winner, Harsheen Kaur

Before the body is conditioned by the physical restraint of formal seating, the child interacts with space through instinctive freedom. Rooted in the early memory of indoor soft-play environments, this inquiry unfolds where physical boundaries yield to human form. Suspended nets and soft geometries form a sensory landscape that invites uninhibited movement and bodily autonomy. While contemporary western
environments restrict this fluidity to childhood, pre-colonial Indian interiors operated on Vedic spatial philosophies, where collective rest was inherently woven into furniture forms.

Prior to the British Raj, the home was characterised by textiles, mattresses and bolsters, valuing ease over etiquette. Refuge was tactile, playful and integral to daily life. Colonial authorities viewed these low seating arrangements as a primitive lack of structure rather than a conscious, cultural choice rooted in indigenous knowledge - soon replacing them with high-backed chairs and dining tables. This postural manipulation extended imperial power into the domestic sphere, allowing the home to become another instrument for controlling the civilian body.

The piece ‘Play: De-Colonial Subversion and Emotional Refuge’ explores the complex relationship between Indian and European design languages. Under British rule, Anglo-Indian furniture emerged by exploiting local materials and craftsmanship to construct rigid European forms. Harsheen inverts this process by salvaging, severing and subverting a dining table to create a shape inspired by the Indian charpai. An object
typically extended for formality is instead expanded to create room for refuge and rest. The weaving that sits within the traditional structure is reinterpreted through a filet-lace net, drawing upon Victorian doilies and table runners while replacing the imperial rose for the native lotus.

The works ‘Subversion & Suspension’ and ‘Play: De-Colonial Subversion and Emotional Refuge’ intervene in objects designed for rigidity, reclaiming them as pieces for rest, intimacy, and play. Accompanied by somatic photographic studies and oral histories from the South Asian community, the exhibition invites the viewer to unlearn the spatial discipline of the western interior and reclaim the uninhibited movement of the inner child.

Please note that the Constance Howard Gallery has no step-free access. Please contact the gallery at textiles@gold.ac.uk to make accessibility arrangements.

Harsheen Kaur

Dates & times

Accessibility

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