Coinage

Coinage is an installation that was created as part of solo exhibition, Reclaimed: Indo-Caribbean HerStories, which has shown at Art Gallery of Mississauga, Gallery 1c03, and the Gardener Museum. This exhibition highlights the little-known histories of Indian women who travelled from Calcutta to the British West Indies between 1838 and 1917 to replace the African slaves in the 19th century after emancipation. These women worked hard labour in the sugar plantations, harvesting two tons of cane a day. They were illiterate, and therefore had no access to banks. They had their earnings made into jewellery and wore them on their bodies. Coinage references the coin necklaces that the women wore in the fields.