'जत्रा ' (Jatra): A Town Fair As Old As Time

‘जत्रा’ (pronounced ja-tra) is a Marathi word for a town/village fair. A place where people and vendors come from near and far to be enchanted by an old, familiar charm: puppet shows, Death Valley, cotton candy, shimmery fabric blouses, fake gold jewelry, plastic toys, steel utensils, the smell of roasted peanuts and popcorn, on a wide expanse of land. Above all the Giant Wheel, the star attraction seen looming even from a distance, and guides those who are lost. For the Davies Gallery at the Art Center, Ganu created a multimedia, immersive installation of the liminal space that is a ‘जत्रा’ (jatra) at night. Visitors are invited to slow down, explore and contemplate to find their own personal connection and place within Ganu’s poetic narrative. 

 ABOUT THE ARTIST
Roshan Ganu is a multimedia artist originally from Goa, presently based in Minneapolis. Her practice uses iterations of light, darkness, moving image, space and time to explore the poignant states of our human condition. She is interested in the interflow of meaning between the linguistic, visual, experiential and transdisciplinary.  Her work brings a narrative, a moment or an emotion to life wherein she employs the tools of linguistics, space, time, moving image and narrative to meet her audience in a space of vulnerability. ‘Isolation’ is the predominant framework through which she perceives the human condition, the overriding subtext in her work. 

Ganu is presently the MCAD-Jerome Foundation Fellow 2022-23. She has been a recipient of the 2021-22 Next Step Fund Award by Metropolitan Regional Arts Council and the MNiatures grant by Minnesota Opera in 2021. She concluded her Fall 2022 artist residency at Soo Visual Arts Center with a culminating solo exhibition, and was the 2021-22 artist-in-residence at Second Shift Studio Space in St. Paul. She is currently a Foundation Studies Professor at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She is also the co-founder and lead artist of Aapli Zine Library in Northeast Minneapolis, a public interest project supported by MRAC’s Arts Impact For Groups and Springboard For The Arts. 

ABOUT THE GALLERY
Rochester Art Center is a museum of contemporary art located along the Zumbro River in the heart of historic downtown Rochester, MN. Founded in 1946, the Art Center hosts an ongoing schedule of exhibitions of work by local, regional, national, and international artists; dynamic educational programs for all ages; and an array of community partnerships and visitor engagement initiatives. Through world-class exhibitions and programs, the Art Center presents a welcoming, integrated, and diverse experience that encourages questioning, creativity, and critical thinking.

Image: Roshan Ganu, Self-Portrait at the Fair, Digital collage of imagery from the Bodgeshwar Fair and my body, 2023.