Transient

September 12 - November 1, 2025

Opening Reception:

September 12, 5:00-7:00PM Free

In their collective, research-driven practice, Priyanka Dasgupta & Chad Marshall consider the enmeshed lives and histories of Black and South Asian communities that existed in Harlem in the early–mid 20th century. Amidst deeply racist Asian Exclusion laws in place in the US during this period, some recent immigrants formed alliances and families with their neighbors and passed as Black. The artists’ practice animates these largely unwritten social histories, through storytelling and “parafiction,” where historical and imagined realities overlap. Drawn from archival research—as well as their own intersecting heritages and experiences—they conjure Bahauddin “Bobby” Alam: a Bengali sailor turned jazz musician, who migrated to the United States in 1917, and lived as Black in Sugar Hill, Harlem. 

To visualize this history, Dasgupta & Marshall have developed a series of site responsive installations consisting of selections from Alam’s estate in his recreated juke joint. Most recently, in “Along 155th Street, Where the Windows Face East,” the artists envision Alam at home, in Sugar Hill, Harlem, New York. For their upcoming exhibition at Brewer Harris Projects in Syracuse, New York, Dasgupta & Marshall reimagine the gallery as a post war, mid-century bar, located in the historic 15th ward in Syracuse, where Alam might have played alongside local musicians, while touring in Upstate New York in the 1950s.

Priyanka Dasgupta was born in Kolkata, India, and lives in New York, NY. Chad Marshall was born in Washington, D.C., and lives in New York, NY. Their work has been exhibited at the Chengdu Photo festival, Chengdu, China, The Uptown Triennial, New York, NY,  The Sugar Hill Children’s Museum of Art & Storytelling, New York, NY, Akar Prakar Contemporary, New Delhi, India, Knockdown Center, New York, NY, Dodd Galleries, University of Athens, Athens, Georgia, Wave Hill, New York, NY,  and Sculpture Center, New York, NY, among others.  Residencies include Artist Studio Program, Smack Mellon and AIRspace, and Abrons Arts Center and they are recipients of the Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship. Dasgupta and Marshall’s work has been featured and reviewed in Amsterdam News, Cultured Magazine, CBS News, Burnaway, WNYC, and the New York Times.