Hidden Inheritance
Gallery Map
Shivani Karan, 1 - 20 & 40
Incensed by Padma Naidu
25 - 29
Seema Singh, 30 - 39
1. Panchee
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

History is carried in the wind here, and he walks through it.
List of works
2. Golf links
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Just across from Panchee’s home is the golf link of the Ba Golf Club, est 1950.
3. Mango season
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

It’s mango season. Panchee’s hands are covered in ripe mango juice. His sister, Poonam, is cooking on a chula (wood-burning stove).
4. Kerosene lamp
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Panchee and Neha play in the light of a kerosene lamp.
5. Fiji bath
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Panchee’s cousin Piki bathes
her daughter, Neha.
6. Home
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

A few steps from Panna’s front
porch, Panchee’s mother stands
at the entrance of her home..
7. Panchee with his Naani
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Panchee with his grandmother
(maternal).
8. Lane25
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Lane25, Pachis number lane. Ba
(pronounced mBa), Fiji.
9. Impermanence
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Panchee’s cousin Shibu sits in
front of Panchee’s home after
a suspicious fire. The cycle
of death, birth, destruction,
creation, good, evil, sadness,
joy, the impermanence of all
things and the unrelenting
permanence of change.


10. Panchee (older)
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

History is carried in the wind
here, and he walks through it.
11. Hidden Inheritance
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

The intricate lace of a doily
curtain, with blurred figure
(Panchee) beyond. It speaks to
hidden histories of trauma,
addiction, and the epigenetic
legacy of colonial indentured
labour in Fiji.
12.Line25
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

A bus marked ‘Line25’ traces
back to colonial times when
CSR (Colonial Sugar Refining
Company) established numbered
‘Lines’ for indentured
labourers working in sugar
plantations. Over time, the
name evolved into ‘Lane25,’
reflecting the way it was spoken
in local dialects, but ‘Line25’
remains a recognisable part of
Fiji’s labour history and the
legacy of sugar production.
13. Falling Over Ba
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

As the drone descended
unexpectedly over Ba, Fiji,
it felt as though something
unseen, lingering over the
land, deeper forces at play in
this region marked by history,
where the energy of past and
present converge.
14. Eye on Rarawai
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Flames engulf the sugarcane
fields in Rarawai (still water)
as the moon peeks through
a clouded sky, a natural
juxtaposition between fire and
darkness.
15. The Lane25 house
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

My grandmother told me about
this place, a site where
generational shadows linger.
16. Burning Cane
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Flames rise from the sugarcane
fields. The practice, crucial
to labourers to avoid the sharp
cuts of the cane leaves.
17. Unseen Perspectives
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

At this moment I was searching
for a fallen drone, unaware of
the camera’s perspective.
18. Death and rebirth
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

Amidst the charred remains of
my aunts burnt-down house,
vibrant flowers bloom defiantly.
19. LANE25 - Panchee - Photographic
Story Book
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Ba, Fiji

A photographic journey that
traces threads of memory,
place, and hidden inheritance.
20-24: LANE25 Immersive Experience
Shivani Karan
Virtual Reality*

Lane25 transforms memory and
heritage into a sensory virtual
landscape, where personal and
collective histories intertwine,
reflecting the familial connections
and emotional ties of creator
Shivani Karan to the site.
Through her personal quest, Lane25
unravels its secrets.
20. LANE25 Short film
Shivani Karan
Digital Video
Ba, Fiji

Standing in front of the house
on Lane25, a recording of my
late cousin Panna’s voice
echoes the reminder of stories
my grandmother used to tell.
The short film is a collection
of footage and audio captured
over time in Fiji.
21. Ali
Shivani Karan
Archival Photograph
Ba, Fiji

This photograph of my Aji
(grandmother), captures a
moment in time that speaks to her strength and grace.
22. Aja
Shivani Karan
Archival Photograph
Ba, Fiji

This photograph of my Aja
(grandfather), reflects a time
of resilience and adaptation
for descendants of Girmitiyas
in Fiji.
23. Lane25 – Scent Diffusion
Shivani Karan
Scented oil

A sweet fragrance floats in
the air - raat ke raani (night
jasmine) evokes the sweet floral
scent of Fiji at night.
24. Lane25 - Augmented Reality
Shivani Karan

An augmented reality memoir
from Lane25, bridging the
virtual and real world.

Point your camera at the QR code and tap the banner that appears on your screen.

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Artwork on display (play for audio description)
A sample of fabric with incense marks is available in the gallery to touch while listening to the recording.

It always begins with the materials – silk organza and incense.
I have chosen various lengths of silk organza, including 4.5 yards, the minimum length for saris.

Incense, a plant based aromatic, is an important drawing tool, chosen for its significant use in ceremonial rituals to create ambience, dispel odours, cleanse and communicate to spirits.

Various diameters of incense sticks are used to burn through the fabric evaporating as smoke. While there is no physical waste created, a self critique of my own work is that the burning of fabric does release gases into the air, therefore, not totally waste free.

The waves, ripples and creases of the fabric inform where to start and finish drawing – they tangle and twine, connect and disconnect, with perforations conglomerating and transforming lines into planes.
My first take on the works is that they are evocative of maps, islands, large open spaces, island hopping, journeys leading to ‘no’ place or ‘some’ place, sometimes displaced.

Is this my interpretation because of childhood memories of island hopping in Fiji, spending as much time on water [on the move] as on land [more stationary]?
I also take some time to reflect on the unimaginable journey my ancestors took crossing the kala pani for months on end, accompanied with their hopes, dreams and fears, only to be met with disappointments and difficulties.
I am very comfortable in both being rooted in place and uprooting to move and my lifestyle is certainly testament to that.

Uprooting oneself is often seen as a disturbance, an end or beginning, a lack of commitment, focus, a disconnect, whereas the establishing of roots, ie remaining in one place for a length of time, is seen as the antithesis. Architect and academic, Albert L. Refiti, throws some light on this duality *.
He states: “In the teachings of Austin, roots and routes are not separate but are entangled threads, continuities in transformation that are rewoven and repeated”.

Referring specifically to Austin’s take on architecture in the Pacific, Refiti says: “Architecture in the Pacific is intimately connected to both land and sea – the land for roots to take hold in, and the sea for routes of ideas and relationships to extend and connect”.

Trained as an architect, and coming from Fiji, this resonates deeply with me.
So, perhaps it is not about uprooting oneself, but about embarking on routes to connect, disconnect and reconnect, strengthening and releasing connections along the way. Perhaps my roots are relational and not tangible fixtures to place?
Price:
$750 for smaller works [90cm by 140cm]
Price on enquiry for larger works [140cm by 450 cm]
* Text taken from Oceanic Architectural Routes – presentation of photographic archive of Dr Mike Austin’s images taken during his travels of the Pacific from the late 1960s to 2006.

Photo credit: Stephen Rainbow

25 - 29.
Incensed, 2023 - 2024
Padma Naidu
Incense marks on silk organza
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30. Kunti ke katha/ Nai talanoa kei Kunti/ Kunti’s story, 2023
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, collage)

20-year-old Kunti resisted the sexual molestations of an overseer. Indian newspapers published her story of abuse and resistance. This story mobilised the process of enquiry into the treatment of indentured women in Fiji.
Price: $455
31. Narayani ke Krodh/ Na kundru
nei Narayani/ Narayani’s Anger,
2023
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, collage)

Narayani lost her child and
refused to go back to work. She
was severely beaten and taken
to hospital. The overseer who
beat her was found not guilty.
Due to this trauma, Narayani
became mentally ill/insane.
Price: $455
32. Hamaar Number/ Noqu number/
Call Number, 2024
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, paper)

Indentured labourers were
called coolies (a derogatory
term for a low waged worker)
by the British. They were each
assigned an identification
number when they arrived to
work on the farm every morning.
Price: NFS
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33. Shakti et.al/ Kaukauwa kei na
veikatale eso (Kaukauwa &s)/
Power and All, 2024
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, ink)

These women (generation after
generation) were remarkable.
They had so much going on, yet
they did not lose hope. We are
the result of their shakti, a
result of their determination
and hard work.
Price: $1330
34. Kala Kotharia/ Rumu Butobuto/
Blacked-out rooms, 2023
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, cold wax, ink)

Worker accommodation was a
room that was 8ft x 10ft for
a family or three adults.
The room also contained their
belongings, farm tools and
cooking items. These rooms did
not have windows, and such
small spaces created a breeding
ground for the abuse of women.
Price: $300
35. Hamaar Talab/ Na kequ isau/ My
wage, 2023
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, collage, cold wax)

Women’s wages were half as much
as men’s. However, women worked
longer hours (on the farm and
as well as cooking, cleaning,
and caring for children). They
were overworked and underpaid,
malnourished and worn out.
Price: $300
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36. Pehchaan - Sab kuch luta,
lekin shakti nahi/ o yau -
Era botakoca na noqu/ Identity
– they stole everything, but
could not take my power, 2023
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, collage)

The British deceived and
ripped the indentured people
of their dignity and self-
respect, separated families
and ill-treated them. But
their willpower was so strong
that they lived through the
adversities. The trauma was
immense; they felt damaged
yet persevered so that future
generations could have better.
Price: $455
37. Irony, 2023
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, jute, turmeric, charcoal)

This work speaks of the
bitter irony of the Girmitiyas
situation in the British
colonies. At the time England
was making breakthroughs
in mechanics, medicine, and
technology and getting ready
to fight wars to protect and
empower their own people;
yet at the same time they
were killing the souls of the
Indians that they had enslaved.
Price: $455
38.Hamaar nawa ghar/ Ni
itikotikovou/ My new home, 2024
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, collage, turmeric, sindhoor, paper and charcoal)

Most indentured labourers decided
to settle in Fiji, calling it
their new home. They had spent
so much time working/building
Fiji that they felt a sense of
connection to the new land. The
land which had given them a new
lease of life. The land where
their elders and babies were
buried. Indentured labourers/
descendants formed friendships
with the iTaukei people and
lived on their land; for which
they were ever grateful.
Price $1050
39. E amma log ke sapna hai hum/ O
yau na nodra isausau na marama
era a liu/ I am the dream of
these women before me, 2024
Seema Singh
Mixed media (acrylic, collage)

There are many women before
me. I don’t know them or their
names, but I know that I am
their dream. Their genes, trauma
and the supernatural force
(mana) all are inside of me.
Price: $1150
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40. Hidden Inheritance - Doily
Shivani Karan
Digital Photography
Lautoka, Fiji

The intricate lace of a doily
curtain speaks to hidden histories
of trauma, addiction, and the
epigenetic legacy of colonial
indentured labour in Fiji.
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Copyright © 2024 Shivani Karan, website @ Lane25