Colourful Histories: Illuminating Migrant Experiences
Published on 26 October 2026
Wangaratta Art Gallery continues to highlight the relationship between the natural world and our diverse ancestral heritage as a region with a vibrant upcoming exhibition investigating place and belonging through the lens of migrant experiences.
Sangeeta Sandrasegar’s back and back, forever will launch on Thursday 22 October with a talk by the artist on her exciting new show from 5pm.
Informed by Sandrasegar’s Indian, Malaysian, and Australian background, back and back, forever represents the ties of diaspora to their homelands and to Australia. The name of the exhibition is a reference to V. S. Naipal’s A Way in the World, a major literary work reflecting on our deep interconnectedness:
“We all know the parents or grandparents we come from. But we go back and back, forever; we go back all of us to the very beginning; in our blood and bone and brain we carry the memories of thousands of beings.”
Using Naipal as a touch point, Sandrasegar merges two projects in back and back, forever to tell local and universal stories. The first is a series of silk and cotton panels depicting early Italian flower sellers in Melbourne, commissioned by Fed SQ in partnership with the Australian Tapestry Workshop, titled i ragazzi dei millefiori: the flow’rs of song and story. In this installation, Sandrasegar draws attention to a community largely forgotten as racial policies began to restrict Southern European persons from relocating to Australia in the 1900s, asking: who were these vendors? Which regions did they hail from? What was their life like in this unfamiliar environment? How did they shape the city we know today, and how did the city shape them?
The second project integrated into back and back, forever is a collection of abstract paintings titled Nothingness, inspired by Sandrasegar’s own encounters with Tantric art and philosophy in Delhi, which emphasise the idea of duality – centre and periphery, darkness and light, feminine and masculine. In Nothingness, Sandrasegar combines ancient symbols with traditional organic pigments such as indigo and madder, extracted from the leaves and roots of plants, to convey cross-cultural transfer and resistance between different pockets of society. The use of colour, in this sense, speaks to wider legacies of globalisation, colonisation, and exchange. Sangeeta explains:
“Bringing together the intersecting threads across these two bodies of work, back and back, forever explores the ways in which we have related to flowers and plants throughout history, and how cultural connection is embedded in stories of plants within narratives of migration, hybridity and identity.”
Wangaratta Art Gallery Director, Rachel Arndt says of the exhibition:
“Sandrasegar’s back and back, forever is an exhibition that everyone can resonate with. It reminds us of the complexities of our lineage, and how intimately nature is woven into our past and present. Wangaratta and surrounds are home to individuals from so many different walks of life, and Sandrasegar’s works honour this multiplicity. The show’s themes also echo that of Tannic Bonds, our new co-curated exhibition in Gallery 1, considering the interplay of culture, ancestry, and environment through tannins.”
Sandrasegar’s broader practice encompasses intricate paper cut-outs, drawing, painting, sculpture, textiles, and installation. Her work takes a postcolonial lens, often engaging with shadow as a motif to spark discussions around visibility and marginality. She holds a Doctorate of Philosophy from the Victorian College of the Arts and the Australian Centre at the University of Melbourne, and has exhibited widely across Australia, New Zealand, Korea, India, the UAE and the USA.
back and back, forever will be on display in Gallery 2 until 10 January 2027.
The official opening of back and back, forever will be held on Thursday 22 October, with a talk from Sangeeta herself at 5pm. All are welcome.
Image 1: Sangeeta Sandrasegar, i ragazzi dei millefiori: the flow’rs of song and story, 2025, various natural dyes on hand-dyed and painted cotton, 150 x 700cm.
Image 2: Sangeeta Sandrasegar, amrtakalās [rays of nectar], 2025, various natural dyes on organic cotton, 38 x 27cm.
Image 3: Sangeeta Sandrasegar, Ganapati [at the base], 2025, various natural dyes on organic cotton, 70 x 56cm.
Image 4: Sangeeta Sandrasegar, comes to us through pañcāmrtas [five nectars], 2025, various natural dyes on organic cotton, 42 x 30cm.