Nikhaar Surti

Do you ever feel like you are too much or not enough? As an immigrant, I’ve often sensed a drift through spaces, not fully attuned to my identities. Growing up in Orlando, Florida, I was never “American enough,” and when visiting India, I felt “too American and not Indian enough.” Over the years, I embraced code-switching, adjusting style of speech, behavior, appearance, or expression for social survival. Self-reflection on these behaviors has allowed me to artistically represent how code-switching shaped my identity.

Using photography, videography, printmaking, collage, writing, and mixed media art, I explore the intersectionality of personal narratives and identities. My current installation, “Anitya” consists of two bodies communicating in a social space, inviting viewers to play and reflect on their own code-switching. I infuse intention through mindfulness, materiality, symbolism, and embodiment. Materials used in this art installation are symbolic of my life experiences and the work that I have done within myself through my emergence as an art therapist in this program. The plaster signifies building materials often used in India for giving a solid foundation to any structure, mirrors address self-reflexivity and form of visual documentation, the body sculpture reclaims space and its relation to the ever-changing environments, while photography symbolizes switching between identities as a photographer and muse. Lastly, Plants connect to life and growth.

Identifying as a blend of the cultures I’ve grown up in, I view mixed media as reconciliation, sewing together fragments of my experiences like patchwork quilts. Incorporating versatile materials blurs boundaries between mediums, creating a hybrid body of work merging concept and personal narrative. This layered approach unfolds stories of my past and present, offering viewers a glimpse inward and fostering connection and sensitivity towards self and others with similar experiences.