Montreal, June 22- During the weekend, Sonia Sidhu, MP for Brampton South was in Montreal at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts with her MP colleagues. Iqwinder S. Gaheer, MP for Mississauga-Malton, Maninder Sidhu, MP for Brampton East and others for the unveiling of their first Sikh Art Collection by Narinder and Satinder Kapany under the patronage of Baljit S. Chadha.
Sidhu later tweeted: “Let’s continue to celebrate Canada’s diversity through arts and culture. Thank you, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for having us and for organizing a warm welcoming for guests from across the country.’ Also present at the event was Indian High Commissioner in Ottawa, Ajay Bisaria.
The impressive art collection is managed by Laura Vigo, curator of Asian art at the Montreal Museum. Launched by passionate promoters Baljit and Roshi Chadha, featuring art gifted by the Kapany collection, the gallery brilliantly showcases Sikh art in a historical and modern context
Kapany was a Regents Professor at UC Santa Cruz from 1977 to 1983 as well as a UC Santa Cruz Foundation Trustee. In 1999, he endowed the Narinder Singh Kapany Chair in Optoelectronics at the Baskin School of Engineering.
Kapany, a Sikh, was a research scientist, entrepreneur, art collector and philanthropist, he is widely acknowledged as the father of modern fiber optics technology that has revolutionized the world.
The exhibition displays a rare collection of both antique and contemporary art which does well to establish the history of the Sikh religion beginning with the spiritual teachings of Guru Nanak, the first Guru (1469–1539), and of the nine Sikh gurus who succeeded him. Works reflect the gurus, gurdwaras, the Golden Temple–preeminent spiritual site of Sikhism, rituals and religious communities.
The permanent collection of Sikh art has been installed in a new gallery, in the Museum’s Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of One World, located on the 4th floor of the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion. Inaugurated in November 2019, this wing is aimed at creating a dialogue between works from ancestral cultures and those by contemporary artists from here and abroad, using an updated intercultural and transhistorical approach.