Neha Kale's debut book weaves personal memory with art history and belonging
Writer and art critic Neha Kale combines memoir with art history. She examines how artworks shape our sense of home and belonging.
A Foreign Return: On Art and Inhabitation is a debut book by Sydney-based writer Neha Kale. She was born in Mumbai.
The book weaves personal memoir with art criticism. Kale starts with Indian artist Dayanita Singh's photographic installation Suitcase Museum.
The installation brings back childhood memories of her grandfather's house in Goa. Kale then looks at Australian artist John Brack's 1953 painting The New House.
She explores how Brack's work shaped her understanding of post-war suburban aspiration. Kale traces her own family's journey from Mumbai to Perth as a child.
She reflects on how each suburban house was separate from its neighbours. The book also examines violence against women through Italian Baroque painter Artemisia Gentileschi's work.
Kale turns her memories of time and place into analyses of artworks. These artworks shaped her view of life.
- A Foreign Return: On Art and Inhabitation
- Debut book title
- 1953
- Brack's painting year
- Mumbai to Perth
- Family migration
- Mid-1990s
- Perth murders period
Why it mattersA distinctive Australian voice exploring how art, memory and belonging intersect. The book connects cultures and continents.
AustraliaA new Australian book offering perspective on diaspora, identity and home for Australian readers with migrant heritage or cross-cultural interests.
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