Jas Dhillon an artist and artist-curator with an expanded practice. She uses her Punjabi, Sikh, Indian heritage, and a deep reverence for nature and spirituality, to create spaces for a tender and sensitive reflection on ideas of identity, rootedness and belonging.
Deeply inspired by my Punjabi-Sikh heritage, she is interested in unveiling the extraordinary in the ordinary, the idea that art is not separate from life and that life, nature, and spirituality, are all art. Her practice so far has used fabric, Punjabi script, screen printing, neon, sound, scent, food, found objects, and outdoor spaces.
She is an Artist Associate Alumni (2023/24) from Open School East and a resident artist at People Dem Collective. Her projects include a site-specific intervention in a Thanet cave, called 'Home’ 2023, a light installation for the Glow Illumination trail 2022, curation of the Whitstable Biennale 2022 short film programme, co-curation and commissioning for the Estuary Festival 2021 opening weekend programme, and a commission for Margate Now 2020. She was awarded Arts Council (DYCP) funding in December 2022, and was part of the 2022 cohort of the Autograph Gallery: PILOT mentoring programme.
About Words on the Wind
Through conversation, communion, letter writing, and ceremony, Words on the Wind by Jas Dhillon considers personal relationships and connections to the sea, and the natural elements of water, wind, and fire, to explore ideas of safety and connection in our physical, emotional, and spiritual worlds.
Inspired by the timeless notion of the ‘message in a bottle’, therapeutic practices of journaling, and spiritual traditions around the world – where fire, water, and wind are used as conduits to carry dreams and prayers to life, deliver messages to people in other realms, and symbolically carry away energies that no longer serve us – Words on the Wind invites participants to join a workshop, put pen to paper and commit their message to be transformed by fire and carried on the wind.
Combining this sacred symbolism with the amplifying and soothing power of communal song, each presentation of Words on the Wind concludes with a ceremony at the water’s edge, where participants are invited to offer their written pieces to the fire and join a ceremonial singing circle, hosted by sound healer, singer-songwriter, performer, vocal expansion guide, and community organiser, Lauriem.
Words on the Wind is presented as part of Sea Like a Mirror, a partnership project led by Cement Fields, with Art Gene, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, North East Lincolnshire Council & East Marsh United, and Super Culture. With thanks to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Supported with public funding from Arts Council England. Presented in Gravesend for Estuary 2025 with Estuary Festival.
Image: Sam Wainwright.
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