The 'Saffron Surrender' exhibition by London-based Malaysian artist Rajinder Singh features a new series of large paintings, sculptures, and a volume of poetry. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong
The past endures despite time's passage. What was once a civilisation's summer has turned to winter, but the light of that distant past still burns within. Inspired by this enduring legacy, Ipoh-born, London-based artist Rajinder Singh has created a series of new paintings and sculptures that is inspired by the Punjabi people's history.
His new exhibition, Saffron Surrender, running at Wei-Ling Gallery in Kuala Lumpur until Sept 14, is a multifaceted experience, featuring not only his visual art but also his poetry collection, Pale In Saffron.
Rajinder's artworks and poetry are simply different facets of his creative expression.
“I’ve spent a lot of time abroad, crossing borders, living in different countries as part of the diaspora. Even here in Malaysia, I was part of the Sikh diaspora; a small group of people that were born here but there is a connection to the homeland," says Rajinder, 59, during a recent interview at Wei-Ling Gallery.
In his new works, Rajinder discusses the impact of colonialism on the Sikhs, highlighting how it remains a painful, lasting burden they continue to carry. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong
“Even though it is a land that none of us really know. So much of my work for the past 10 years – in Ireland, in London, in Malaysia – has been about people like me ... immigrants,” he adds.
Saffron Surrender, a collection of large oil paintings, explores decolonisation and the legacy of Britain’s imperial past. In August 2022, he returned to KL and showed the Saffron Songs exhibition (also at Wei-Ling Gallery), which focused on language, family history, songs and paintings.
Through the generations
“Saffron Surrender is preoccupied with a way out of hundreds of years of colonial rule ... the British Raj,” says Rajinder.
His new paintings are set in the Indian subcontinent, where his ancestors both resisted and served the British Empire.
"Though I've never lived in India, I can't separate myself from it. My parents, my extended family, and our shared memories shape our identity, kept alive through our culture."
Rajinder's paintings reflect the stories of his people's history shared with him during his upbringing in Malaysia.
In 'Saffron Surrender', Rajinder explores the legacies of colonialism through three childhood stories from his Ipoh upbringing, shared across the Sikh diaspora. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong
“I tell stories in this exhibition and these stories I heard over the years in fragments, pieces, told by my parents, told by the priests in the Gurdwara or through the Punjabi language classes in Tanjung Rambutan, which is where I grew up.
“I talk a lot about the Punjabi culture, especially the Sikh diaspora in Malaysia, and how they came here and what they went through and what kind of colonial inheritances that they have, you know what I mean, how have the British affected us,” he says.
Purity and spirituality
Transforming these stories into art didn’t mean freezing them in time or creating rigid compositions. Instead, Rajinder used fluid brushstrokes and dynamic designs, drawing inspiration from Flemish Baroque painter Peter Paul Rubens.
“With this exhibition, I’m focused on the choreography of coloniality. As both an artist and a choreographer working with performers and dancers, I’m deeply engaged with movement, rhythms, and bodily gestures. The dynamic movement in these paintings is crucial to me, reflecting my connection to the body in my work," says Rajinder, who has a PhD in Engineering and a Masters in Fine Arts.
The vivid orange of saffron plays a central role in Rajinder's paintings. He employs it not only as a foundational underpainting but also for its deep symbolic significance, weaving its rich connotations throughout his work.
“I do a lot of my underpaintings in saffron, in orange colour. Saffron itself represents an essence of my artistic practice. Saffron represents purity, spirituality and among the Sikhs it represents valour, courage and sacrifice.
Rajinder's 'Saffron Surrender' exhibition occupies substantial space at Wei-Ling Gallery. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong
“But for me saffron is more like a weight of an idea. It’s like a stain that a prayer leaves at the fabric of a turban, you know. You pray and it becomes more and more orange.
“I think of it like this; it is quite poetic. The way the infinite, the eternal and the overflow moves through my turban.”
Rajinder carefully selects specific areas of his paintings to add extra colours and details after applying the saffron underpainting. This approach keeps the initial saffron layer visible, enhancing the painting without making it look unfinished or disjointed.
“If you look (at the paintings) I chose only certain areas to paint where there are more thicker paintings and more texture. So the saffron is the underpainting, the first layer and I leave much of it alone in the next stage of painting and this allows for the movement, the spectacle which is what Rubens did although he didn’t do spots of painting, he rendered the whole thing.
“But it was very important for me to have that violence, the movement, the heroic figures.”
Rajinder clarifies that his paintings are rooted in “collective memory” rather than historical accuracy. He emphasises that he is not depicting precise historical events, noting, “I am not a historian.”
The title of the exhibition 'Saffron Surrender' is taken from the 1849 Sikh surrender to the British during the second Anglo-Sikh War between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company. Photo: The Star/Chan Tak Kong
So how does he turn “collective memory” into creativity?
“That’s another thing about collective memory. You grow up with certain stories and what is our reality about stories?
“The problem with collective memory is we pick and chose which story we tell. Collective memory is also selective ... meaning to say we pick and choose which stories we want to tell and we interpret them in a certain way.
“So that’s where I come in as an artist. I see some things that maybe other people don’t see and I want to point it out to you and this what I’m doing here.”
Rajinder discusses the impact of colonialism on the Sikhs, highlighting how it remains a painful, lasting burden they continue to carry.
“The Sikh people today bear a visible wound that stems from their colonial inheritance,” he says.
The title of the exhibition Saffron Surrender is taken from the 1849 Sikh surrender to the British during the second Anglo-Sikh War between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company.
It also reflects the aftermath of that war, where the Sikhs were conscripted to serve their new rulers as a military and police force.
“We were employed by the colonial powers, fighting for them in World War I and World War II. We also served as police, enforcing order on the colonised while working for the colonisers,” he says.
“And this is what I’m trying to point out. We have to remember that this is what happened to our bodies and this is the scar that we carry and we have to think about this – what’s happened to our bodies – and we have to consider our relationship with our colonial masters.”
Rajinder is profoundly aware of the past and recognises its scars etched into his own identity.
“I know that I have this wound within me. Even living in London right now ... I look at the Europeans and think that they are better but they are not! It’s just the way they have brainwashed us, you know.
“This is the main narrative behind the show. It is a call to action to think about what has happened to our bodies and also, I think of this whole exhibition as a wound, a scar, left in our bodies due to colonial rule,” he concludes.
Rajinder Singh's Saffron Surrender is showing at Wei-Ling Gallery, 8, Jalan Scott, Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur until Sept 14. By appointment only. Call 03-22601106 or email siewboon@weiling-gallery.com.
