This year, we’re delighted to be part of an exciting combined-arts project by Saranjit Birdi, Father’s Lines. You may remember Saranjit Birdi from his 2023 exhibitions, Secret Life of Plants and Poiesis, which included paintings, prints and small metal sculptures based on Winterbourne’s Flora and Herbarium collection. In Father’s Lines, Saranjit once again draws on Winterbourne’s vast sources of inspiration as he reimagines the literary work of his father, the Punjabi author Surjit Virdi. 

Commemorating a remarkable legacy

Surjit Birdi’s collections of short stories were critically acclaimed in the 1960s and 70s.  They addressed issues which are still very topical today, such as colonialism, sexuality and mental health. Having been heavily influenced by his father’s approach to art, Saranjit’s project brings together printmaking, poetry, dance and music in a celebration of his father’s remarkable legacy.

Saranjit will be working with the Winterbourne Press as he develops the collection and produces artworks which link motifs from Winterbourne with quotations from his father’s work. In the study, you can see a piece that features the wall and yew trees that separate Winterbourne’s two lawns, alongside a quote from Surjit Birdi about a young woman hemmed in by boundaries and restrictions.

The Japanese Bridge as never seen before

In an artwork in the drawing room, we encounter the Japanese Bridge as we have never seen it before, being smashed by a river in full flood. Here, the image of the bridge echoes Birdi’s description of an emotional bridge between two people being swept away. 

Further works from Saranjit’s collection will appear in due course, so look out for them when you next visit the house!