Gurminder Sikand was an artist whose practice shifted in medium and method, yet remained rooted in her interest in gender, ecology and mythology. From pastels to watercolour to pencil, Sikand moved through several stylistic periods across four decades, each recognisable by its primary medium and subject matter. She often reworked her paintings and drawings, viewing them as palimpsests and leaving visible the faint presence of earlier figures. Woman and Cell (2018-21) and Oneness B (1992) represent two distinct periods in Sikand’s career. In Oneness B, Sikand depicts a multi-headed figure against a cosmic landscape. A recurring image in Sikand’s art, the multi-headed goddess is an influence that Sikand attributed to her formative years in India and exposure to Hindu iconography. Additionally, Sikand’s interest in the environment was inspired by the Chipko movement in India, in which women embraced trees to prevent their felling by commercial loggers. During the later part of her career, Sikand started to use pencil and charcoal, producing monochromatic works such Woman and Cell, which was showcased at TG Gallery, Nottingham, in 2021, her final solo exhibition before her passing. While the title ‘Woman and Cell’ alludes to incarceration, the imagery reveals otherwise, showcasing a muscular female figure towering over a small building. Created over three years, Sikand’s labour-intensive process is especially prominent in this work due to the harshness and precision of pencil as a medium, as she inscribes and erases the paper into an almost three-dimensional, textural material. Sikand’s contributions to the Nottingham arts scene, such as co-founding the Nottingham Indian Artists’ Group with Said Adrus and Sardul Gill, make this acquisition particularly significant for Nottingham City Museum & Galleries. Sikand’s connection to the Midlands spans from when she graduated in Fine Art from Birmingham Polytechnic in 1983, after which she settled in Nottingham, where she passed away at the age of 61. Having acquired Sikand’s painting Striped Heads (1994) previously, the museum is all the keener to showcase a comprehensive representation of Sikand’s diverse artistic oeuvre.
