Summary

Indo-Fijian craft and social practitioner, researcher, writer and critical theorist Quishile Charan approaches craft as a science-fiction practice of building new worlds from the seeds of reality.

As a descendent of Girmit (indentured labour)—part of a history and present in which autonomy was/continues to be denied to her people—Quishile holds close a core set of anarchist—anti-colonial, anti-institution, anti-authority—values.

In her experimental, relational pursuits, Quishile expresses these values while seeking to form different visions of home with her own hands. Melted into Indo-Fijian gardening, cooking and living, it’s a family effort that prioritises the anti-colonial work of nurturing and caring for each other outside of Western hegemony. Quishile’s practice cannot function without the people in her life. A lot of her work lies in these relationships—choosing her family, holding them in the fabric of community and moving beyond historical systems of harm.

Quishile has an MVA from Auckland University of Technology, where she also completed a PhD in visual arts. She has exhibited at institutions including Artspace Aotearoa, Tāmaki Makaurau; SAVVY Contemporary, Berlin; and Kunsthalle Wien Museum. You can find Quishile working at her whare/ghar, which she shares with her chosen family in Aotearoa, making tarkari for loved ones, deep in talanoa while tending to her dye pots and sewing in the garage.

During the Fale-ship, Quishile will be mapping the histories of plantation resistance, rebellion and protest led by Girmitiyas women onto an eco-dyed and embroidered protest banner.

(Image: it takes the love of the living and dead (work in progress), 2024, photo: Matavai Taulangaū)