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Apollo
Art Diary

Hardeep Sahota: Bhangra Lexicon

8 January 2021

While some museums are closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Apollo’s usual weekly pick of exhibitions will include shows at institutions that are currently open as well as digital projects providing virtual access to art and culture.

Bhangra – a lively form of dance and music set to the beat of a large barrel drum – originated among rural communities in the Punjab region as part of the spring harvest festival of Vaisakhi, but it is now practised across the world. Hardeep Sahota, a Huddersfield-based dancer and the founder of World Bhangra Day, has collaborated with the photographer Tim Smith to create Bhangra Lexicon: a visual dictionary that records, in long-exposure photographs, some 300 ephemeral body movements and gestures associated with Bhangra. While the Yorkshire Sculpture Park is closed, its planned display of the work has moved online, launching 9 January. View the exhibition on the YSP’s website.

Preview below | View Apollo’s Art Diary here

Pumbiri, from Bhangra Lexicon (2021), Hardeep Sahota.

Pumbiri, from Bhangra Lexicon (2021), Hardeep Sahota. Photo: © Tim Smith

Bhangra: Gol-Kichaan, from Bhangra Lexicon (2021), Hardeep Sahota.

Gol-Kichaan, from Bhangra Lexicon (2021), Hardeep Sahota. Photo: © Tim Smith

Lehriya-Behke, from Bhangra Lexicon (2021), Hardeep Sahota. Photo: © Tim Smith