WITH SILVER - Collaboration between Akshita Garud and Avantika Khanna
for Close to Home: Remittance Spaces Between Arrival and Return - A group exhibition at Savvy Contemporary for Berlin Art Week 11/25
CROSS MY PALM WITH SILVER
— exhibition text by Whitney Wei
In 'Cross My Palm With Silver,' artist Akshita Garud explores her personal journey with remittance and its emotional landscape with a delicate duality. Is sending money home as an immigrant as selfless as it appears? Or is it selfish, an unspoken obligation for leaving one's family behind? Created in collaboration with fellow artist and metalworker Avantika Khanna, the double-ended spoons in the food installation appear silver, but are in fact stainless steel, a metal known for industriousness and resilience against tarnish. Those born without a silver spoon in their mouths must diligently forge their own paths to prosperity and give back to their parents who invested in them.
As a precious metal, silver has longstanding associations with wealth, currency, and status. One idiom, 'born with a silver spoon in their mouth,' refers to someone inheriting a life of affluence and privilege. Another, 'cross my palm with silver,' indicates an old practice of paying a silver coin to a fortune teller ahead of their services, which simultaneously invokes prosperity with the arrival of a newborn child. But this also points to the undercurrent of reciprocity in every ostensible act of goodwill. An extended palm symbolises trust and generosity towards others, as well as the interest to receive in kind.
These spoons rest on a mirrored table that multiplies and reflects their forms in the ubiquity of remittance. Each utensil cradles Indian food with contrasting yet complementary flavour profiles, in reference to Garud's roots, to carry forth the payment's bittersweet nature. On one side, duty and the other, desire. The varying sizes of the vessels represent the uneven psychological weight and levels of personal sacrifice within each benevolent act. Some spoons have stems of differing lengths, while others multiple and curve, akin to the physical distance and emotional complexity between family members.
'Cross My Palm With Silver' necessitates that every participant gaze into the mirrored table in self reflection before lifting a spoon, tasting both sides, and deciding for themselves which is selfish and which is selfless—or realise that both can exist in the same mouthful.
