Adeela Suleman: Exit the Tiger

Written by Charlie Moore

Adeela Suleman is someone the gallery has worked with once before, for a 2021 group show looking at textile practices in South Asia, curated by Zehra Jumabhoy. 

She has never shied away from difficult and controversial subjects and continues to produce important and timely pieces.  In 2019 at the second Karachi Biennale, her installation at Frere Hall titled Killing Fields of Karachi was censored by the police and destroyed just hours after it was unveiled.

Killing Fields of Karachi, Adeela Suleman, before and after…

Photo: Nazish Broh

The installation consisted of 444 stone pillars topped with metal wilted flowers, along with a video work installed in the city’s Frere Hall. The sculptural forms are meant to represent the victims of ‘police encounters’ allegedly involving officers serving under disgraced commander Rao Anwar and are arranged in rows evoking tombstones.

In 2022 Adeela exhibited at MAC in Birmingham, with monumental tapestries and a hammered copper installation.

Photograph by Tegen Kimbley

The exhibition at Grosvenor Gallery consists of antique ceramic plates, sourced at markets in the UK, overpainted with famous scenes by British artists depicting the fall of Tipu Sultan – the Tiger of Mysore.

“The imagery of historical events is meticulously crafted on vintage ceramic platters, chosen for their ability to merge the mutations of history with the permanence of legacy… these works invite viewers to witness the courage and resolve that defined Tipu Sultan's resistance.”

Adeela Suleman

The imagery will be familiar to those who know Tipu Sultan’s story. From the hostage taking of Tipu’s children with Cornwallis, to the famous image of him dead in his palace painted by Sir David Wilkie, these images were created by European artists, the victors.  Whilst they overtly the Victory of the British, they also show the esteem that Tipu was held in Britain, as a figure displayed honorably in death.

The fallout from the siege of Seringapatam was brutal, with Tipu’s treasury and palace ransacked and the spoils divided and brought to Britain.  Several of these objects have been sold in the last few years, from parts of his throne, to (most notably) the sword kept by him in his bedchamber. The V&A holds ‘Tipu’s Tiger’, an automaton that plays the sound of a dying Company School soldier clenched in the jaws of a huge tiger – imagery referenced by Adeela in the work Remembering Tipu: An allegorical tribute to Tipu’s last standard at Seringapatam

The museum at Powis Castle, contains a treasury of objects looted from Seringapatam and collected by Clive of India.  It’s unsurprisingly a very controversial subject, and the UK Government’s document on the export licence makes interesting reading…

Tipu Sultan, the ‘Tiger of Mysore’, was regarded as the greatest threat to the British East India Company until his defeat and death in 1799. As ruler of Mysore, Tipu identified himself and his personal possessions with tiger imagery, famously stating:

“I would rather live a day as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep.”

Tipu Sultan

Adeela’s works use Tipu and his associated iconography in various ways, superimposed on to ceramics, as large multi panel wall plaques, and as standards from battle.

“I attempt to resurrect a deeper sense of reflection on the historical and emotional landscape of Tipu Sultan’s era… This collection is a tribute to the indomitable spirit of Tipu Sultan and his father, Haider Ali, who resisted the British East India Company in their quest to preserve the sovereignty of Mysore. The imagery of historical events is meticulously crafted on vintage ceramic platters, chosen for their ability to merge the mutations of history with the permanence of legacy. Each piece vividly portrays significant events from Tipu Sultan's life, creating a tapestry of his significant struggle. From the intense confrontations of the Mysore Wars to the poignant exchange of his children as hostages, and finally, to the climactic siege of Seringapatam in 1799, these works invite viewers to witness the courage and resolve that defined Tipu Sultan's resistance”

Adeela Suleman, July 2024