Risham Syed’s work Cheetah and Stag with Two Indians (After George Stubbs) is now part of the collection of Jameel Arts Centre and is being shown in the exciting show titled Three Tired Tigers.
Three Tired Tigers is a group exhibition that delves into the often-overlooked presence of animals in urban landscapes.
The exhibition asks what happens when animals escape their enclosures or conflict with humans, shifting from admired symbols to nuisances, from pets to pests. It challenges visitors to rethink coexistence, ecology and the importance of recognising animals as part of our everyday geographies.
Featuring works by artists engaging with urban animals across different regions, the exhibition invites us to view our cities and landscapes from a (mostly) four-legged perspective.
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"The installation I have created in response to George Stubbs’s painting Cheetah and a Stag with Two Indian Attendants from 1764, explores the complex relationship between the colonizers and the natural world. The two sections of the painting, depicting the cheetah, the stag, and the Indian attendants, are juxtaposed with found textile pieces that symbolize the colonizers' obsession with nature. This obsession, while appearing as a desire to connect with the natural world, effectively leads to the destruction and depletion of it.
The jigsaw pieces of the painting hint at the events that transpired between the cheetah and the stag, while the stag seems to have freed himself of his collar. This work comments on class, power, control, and exploitation that are woven into the fabric of colonial history laying the foundation of Capitalism
- Risham Syed
