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Sakira Goulatia

“It is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do so little.” 

as worlds turn reflective

craving more,

a monstrous tide, a hurricane

storms smashing

seas angry whipping against the shore

unsuspecting, hunting

our license brief, unlikely to be renewed

drought and famine

cracking the surface of the earth

fires burning angrily

we ignoring

the burning Earth pleading, warning, crying, 

yet strengthened

questions yet to be answered

Is it too late to undo the cuts on the flesh?

face the truth – explain, distinguish

what we know from what we believe

the overwhelming evidence presented,

yet deliberately we ignore,

acutely aware yet unaware

What are we doing?

raising our glasses to the vagaries of fate?

unprecedented, unthinkable, distant, uncertain, and incomprehensible

the devastation, shocking

we believe

carbon a universal element

the government wants control

it all boils down to power and politics?

not much hope

we think- abstract, distant, invisible, disputed

no pressing deadlines

the threat is real, lingering, going on and on 

not believing or immobilized

silence about the silence

meta-silence it is

believe what you want to believe

uncertainty as a justification for inaction?

the pen is leaking, spilling, messing our clothes

but what about oil, burning destroying 

Has our society advanced? 

choosing to destruct itself

the earth in process, 

passing into morbid fever

finally the state of coma and then death.

the myth of permanence lingering

the belief, it will adapt

there ceases to be the prize

imperceptibility

our tissue wrapped perspective

to be ripped

what matters is the sudden breadth of vision

Stop.stop.stop.


Sarika Goulatia (she/her/hers) is an Asian American artist. She was born in India and immigrated to the United States in 2002. 

“I am an immigrant artist, a woman of color, and a mother to two children.”

Goulatia has a master’s in Textiles Design and Development (printing, surface embellishments, and weaving) and did residencies in rural India, England, Hong Kong, and the United States. In 2004 she changed her career path and received a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, where she completed her bachelor’s in two years. 

As a diaspora artist, her work stems from the intersection of her dual national identity; the synergy of this distinctiveness allows her to break through cultural barriers. 

Photo of Sakira Goulatia
Photo of Sakira Goulatia.

“As an immigrant who has always tried to assimilate, I had a rude awakening when Trump was elected.”

The Charlottesville riots took place that my kids, my husband and I, and all who looked like us would always be the other because of the color of our skin, our accent, the language we speak, or the religion we chose to follow or not to follow. Microaggression and institutionalized racism made me angry with myself for feigning obliviousness, hiding my accomplishments, appeasing incongruities.”

Goulatia is a visual artist best known for her large-scale visceral sculptures and installations.  Her artistic practice touches on the frailty of human experience, often drawing on personal challenges and socio-political and cultural issues affecting our society. 

“I explore ideas of modern society’s views on rights for women, subjugation of minorities, capitalism’s impact on climate change, and the effect of social media on mental health. I challenge thoughts and express raw emotions of empowerment in my work.

“I try to engage people to dialogue, think and contemplate, and I hope the work provokes them to react and feel to change society towards a more equitable future.”

Her work ranges from sculpted ceramics to cast bronzes and aluminum, assemblages using found objects, fabricated acrylic panels, digital prints to nail, pin drawings on wood and paper.

“The impetus for my work came from me dreaming of a day when we stop being the perfunctory minority which brings pleasant diversity to a white workplace, the day we are free of labels and spends less time cautiously positioning our words, our gestures, our clothes, our food, our surroundings so that we fit in and don’t appear threatening, unusual or unappreciative.”

After Historic Futures, Goulatia will have a show at the first-ever National Indo-American museum. The show opens on October 16th and runs till April 2022. 

For more information on Goulatia’s work, please visit Sarika Goulatia’s official website.

Sakira crating large balls for "it is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do so little."
Sakira crating large balls for “it is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do so little.”
A collection of large balls for "it is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do so little."
A collection of large balls for “it is the greatest of all mistakes to do nothing because you can only do so little.”

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