In her pieces for the 16th Sharjah Biennial, Fijian Australian artist Shivanjani Lal uses objects, photography and video to account for lost histories through a storytelling-based practice shaped by remembrance. Watch this Artist In Focus to discover how I Felt Whole Histories (2024) developed from a conversation with the artist’s farmer uncle about the uncertainty of Fiji’s sugarcane industry. This inspired Lal to explore her Indo-Fijian lineage and the history of colonial plantations. The mixed-media installation’s centrepiece, Aise Aise Hai (How We Remember) (2023) consists of 87 plaster-cast sugarcane stalks that seem to sprout from brass foundations scattered across the room. As viewers navigate this eerie site, the spine-like canes allude to the backbreaking labour and violence that transpire on plantation soil. Idhur [Here] (2023), a seven-year archive of Polaroids that Lal took during every trip back to Fiji (2009– ongoing), documents the changes sweeping across her homeland, coupled with an eponymous video that pairs Fijian landscapes with a poignant song about who will continue telling a community’s story. 

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Director - Magdi Emad

Camera Operators - @ward helal, @shefeek_sha_nk, @alialfadly1  

Editor - Magdi Emad

Sound Design - @unnikrishnan.sb  

Production Manager - @dimzyb  

Assistant Director - @unnikrishnan.sb