NADA House 2024

For the sixth edition of NADA House, CUE Art presents “Untitled (Rano),” a work by Tsohil Bhatia. The work serves as an extension of “This Fire That Warms You,” their solo exhibition simultaneously on view at CUE’s gallery space—and for which they received mentorship from Puppies Puppies (Jade Guanaro Kuriki-Olivo). Bhatia’s practice intertwines the studio and the kitchen, and often incorporates extensive work with their own body, exploring its ghost, its labor, and its evidence. They frequently revisit and reevaluate contemporary iterations of everyday rituals and from their household, situating their practice at the intersection of cold conceptualism and warm romanticism.

“Untitled (Rano)” is presented on the lawn of Nolan Park House 17 on Governors Island, extending the language of the domestic into the public realm. 146 pounds of kneaded dough is placed upon a “charpai (daybed),” reflecting the weight of the artist’s body. This act is a reverent reperformance of Rano, a family elder. As a memorial to her departed presence, the work considers the fleeting and the unresolvable. Left to ferment in the elements and to be fed on by the creatures of the island, “Untitled (Rano)” contemplates the artist’s decaying body, mourning the inevitable loss of time and its bodily manifestations. Part way through its presentation at NADA House, the work will be accompanied by a food-based offering from Red Flower Collective, a communal eating and food research collective of which Bhatia is a co-founder.