‘Earth’ is the first part of a three part performance (Earth – Water – Fire) by Warm Leveret which was developed in response to the work of Sancintya Mohini Simpson. It took place in the galleries of the Artes Mundi 11 exhibition at the National Museum Cardiff on 1st March 2026.
The starting point for ‘Earth’ was Mohini Simpson’s sparsely composed paintings showing Indian women working the cane fields. The visible gaps in the painting acknowledge the gaps in our knowledge. We know so little about these women’ s daily and inner lives through omission from the historical records, which are by nature colonial and misrepresentative of the reality of indenture.
I revisited a conversation that I recorded with my elder sister in 2017 for a research project called ‘Sisters’. It explored the identities and experiences of South Asian women in India and Wales for National Theatre Wales. The starting points for discussion were questions related to my sister’s childhood and upbringing, life as a mother and caregiver, views on feminism and advice for the next generation of young women.
The recordings of my sister’s responses were cut, sampled, manipulated and played back, building a new assemblage where the original narrative is obscured and fragmented. The sound builds on an Indian drum machine slowed down to a sparse pace where the rhythm is not immediately apparent to the casual listener. A harp is prepared using household twist ties which pull the notes into unpredictable pitches and a percussive sounding resonance reminiscent of tabla. The piece builds in its own time: snatches of her voice come in and out and the gaps are ever present.
