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Join us for a weekend of culture, food, learning and community celebration for the closing of Bush Diwan at Benalla Art Gallery. Curated by 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (4A), the Community Weekend celebrates the legacy of community gathering, inspired by the story of Benalla local Siva Singh and his bringing together of Sikhs on his property in December 1920.Activities include:
- Performance of Transient Temples by exhibiting artist Anindita Banerjee in Benalla Botanic Gardens.
- Poetry workshop with Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa in Benalla Botanic Gardens.
- Childrens and adult art making workshops with exhibiting artists Manisha Anjali and Amardeep Shergill.
-Curator tours and artist floor talks for Bush Diwan.
- Music
- Morning meditation: Japji Sahib and morning kirtan at Sunrise, Shepparton Sikh Gurdwara in the Bennett Gallery.
- Food and community kitchen.
About Bush Diwan:
Threaded through with stories of migration, Bush Diwan gathers artists and storytellers from across Australia, whose work delves into the struggles and triumphs of people and communities who have come from afar to restart their lives in a new place.
Through performance, text and time-based media, the exhibition is a contemporary reimagining of Benalla local Siva Singh’s story, from the perspective of artists from South Asian diasporas and First Nations communities. The Punjabi word diwan means gathering or religious event, an important practice in community formation and connecting to a place. Inspired by Siva Singh and the offerings his community leadership he left behind, Bush Diwan asks us to consider the processes of migration, reconciliation with homeland, and how his migratory narrative continues to resonate in contemporary Australia.
About Siva Singh:
Siva Singh arrived in Australia in approximately 1896, and worked as a hawker in Benalla and the surrounding regions from 1898. He established himself as part of the local community—widely recognised for his distinctive pink turban—and owned a 320 acre farm by 1915.
Siva took on the duties of a Granthi or custodian of the Sikh scriptures in Benalla and surrounding regions, however was challenged in performing religious ceremonies due to the lack of a Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji (Sikh scriptures) anywhere in Australia. A Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji was sent from India to Benalla, and following its arrival, on 16 December 1920, an Akhand Path, or continuous reading, was performed for Hernam Singh on Siva Singh’s farm. Attended by approximately 30 Sikhs, the ceremony was photographed by William John Howship, and is the first known Akhand Path that included the Siri Guru Granth Sahib Ji in Australia.
Siva Singh is also remembered for his personal fight against the White Australia policy, which had seen him struck off the electoral roll despite having voted in three previous elections. While his court case was initially thrown out, and Siva ordered to pay the legal costs, he regained the right to vote in 1925 after a decade-long legal battle.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Benalla, ,Melbourne,VIC,Australia