Nuit Blanche Toronto 2025

(Independent Project)

A Contemporary Art Festival presented by the City of Toronto
Project funding provided by

Additional support by

પડછાયો (The Shadow Within) is a contemporary Rangoli installation, one of the first large-scale exhibitions of this traditional art form in North America. The work combines colored sand, mirrors, and lamps to create an immersive environment exploring mental health, resilience, and self-reflection within an urban context.

Artwork Overview

The installation consists of two components:

Preinstalled Rangoli: 12 x 12 feet with a central mirror, designed for viewer interaction.

Live Rangoli: 30 x 30 feet, created over ten continuous hours using 97.5 kg of sand.

Together, the installations form a total of 120.18 kg of sand, creating an expansive, immersive experience that blends ritual, performance, and contemporary installation practice.

In alignment with Nuit Blanche's 2025 curatorial theme, Translating the City, પડછાયો uses traditional materials to reveal the emotional and cultural landscapes of Toronto. The piece explores mental health, introspection, and the unseen weight of identity in an urban environment.

The colored sand represents emotional diversity within BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities. Mirrors symbolize self observation and the duality between one’s internal and external life. Lamps serve as points of light within the shadows, referencing both urban illumination and the guiding role of hope in mental health.

By placing a South Asian cultural form in the heart of a contemporary art festival, the installation acts as a translation itself, transforming a domestic ritual into a public intervention while keeping its cultural integrity intact.

Concept

Visitors engage with a luminous circular floor piece, observing their reflections in mirrors and the dynamic interplay of light, sand, and shadow. The installation encourages slow, deliberate movement and quiet reflection, offering an immersive, contemplative encounter within the urban environment.

Audience Experience

This installation expands the presence of South Asian diasporic art in North American contemporary spaces. By presenting Rangoli at large scale in its unapologetically traditional form, it challenges conventional expectations of contemporary art and affirms the relevance of South Asian aesthetics in public and institutional contexts. The work asserts cultural authorship and positions Indian artistic identity as contemporary, performative, and site-responsive rather than solely historical or folkloric.

Significance

International Media Recognition

Coverage of this installation appeared across several Indian print and broadcast outlets, highlighting the cultural significance of presenting large-scale traditional Rangoli within a contemporary Canadian festival context.

Print Media
Gujarat Mitra
Loksatta Jansatta
Sandesh (Print Edition)
Divya Bhaskar

Broadcast and Digital Media
Spark Today News
TNN News Gujarati
Sayaji Samachar

Event Details

Location: St. Lawrence Market North Building, Toronto
Date: October 4 to 5, 2025
Time: 7 PM to 7 AM
Dimensions: 30 x 30 foot live installation; 12 x 12 foot preinstalled work
Duration of Live Creation: 10 hours

Art carries culture beyond time and place.