Yellow Immigration

Chanchal’s “Yellow” series emerged from a personal response to spatial and emotional displacement, using color as a lens for identity and belonging.

In 2003, Chanchal was deeply affected by The Weather Project by Olafur Eliasson at the Tate Modern. An immersive installation that revealed the transformative potential of color and atmosphere. This experience became a turning point, prompting him to reflect on how color shapes emotional and cultural perception.

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Unlike Eliasson’s addressing universal concerns on global warming, Chanchal’s approach turns inward.

His “yellow room” sheds light, both literally and symbolically, on the immigrant experience.

Bathed in a monochromatic yellow glow, the space becomes a site of hyper-visibility, echoing Chanchal’s own perception of foreignness. Yellow, in his words, is “dominant and easy to spot”, a metaphor for the immigrant who, despite physical presence, remains apart.

The room is filled with yellow-painted artworks and everyday objects, obsessively gathered over time as part of an ongoing inquiry into the emotional and cultural weight of the color. These juxtapositions create a layered visual language that evokes memory, displacement, and the longing for integration.

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All theses images are from "Yellow Immigration Room" solo exhibition, Artist House, TLV, Israel 

(Curator: Arie Berkowich), 2022

Sculpture of hands containing turmeric