Artists Athen & Nina blend Y2K kitsch with their Indian roots

I open Zoom to find artist Athen Kardashian in bed, handcuffs draped over the bedpost. She’s ill, but work never stops. The other half of the art duo, Nina Mhach Durban is also on the call yet in full make-up and blouse (pyjamas on the bottom half, she tells me). Behind her is an Andy Warhol-style artwork of Queen Elizabeth II crying tears of blood (artist unknown).

I first met Athen and Nina on our art foundation course at Kingston University. Back then, I always assumed they were close friends, but to my surprise, Nina tells me: “It’s funny that you think we were good friends because I actually don’t think we were.” We all laugh.

The British-Indian duo came together in early 2023. Based on mutual respect, friends in common and similar upbringings their practices naturally co-aligned into a unique collaboration between Y2K-esque pop culture and their Indian roots.

Pop culture runs throughout their practice, and ideas usually begin with archived ephemera found in the basements and childhood bedrooms of their family homes. “We’re both hoarders!” says Nina. You see it in their work: stacks of DVDs including Easy A, Bratz and Pretty in Pink, small trinkets, kitsch tourist fridge magnets, nail polish, satirical badges, old school notice boards and a gentle nod to One Direction and/or Charli XCX.

But, ever since they were young, hoarders at the root of their “obsessive” practice, lies a profound connection with their Indian heritage, specifically their matriarchal upbringing. Magazine images, personal possessions, religious iconography, beading, incense and jewellery are all intertwined with childhood nostalgia hinting at a cultural duality.

Their upbringing was empowered by female presence, both growing up with Indian mothers. This is exemplified by the iconographic imagery of female Bollywood stars and alluring models imbued with a touch of “girliness and coming of age…reckoning with their history,” or as Athen punned “Rekha-ning.” (The Indian actress, Rekha, frequently features in their work and happens to share a name with Nina’s aunt).

Athen and Nina’s grandparents both came to London when they were young and have developed a great sense of pride living here. What has clearly rubbed off on the duo, ushering a sense of esprit de corps, Athen declared: “It doesn’t matter where you’re from, you’re a Londoner.” You’ll notice several works embellished with “I <3 London” and “I <3 New York” which symbolise as much about their love for the city as it does for the diverse cultures within them.

I asked them a reel of questions about what they thought of London and New York: “I <3  London and I <3 New York are symbols of religion in the modern day,” says Athen. For them, London is a love affair as well as “funny, humorous and tacky” but New York, they say, is a more “glamorous version, more exotic.” But maybe this glamour ideal is more to do with their dreams of wanting to move to America as children. But, there’s no place like London! These notions of place and movement within Athen and Nina’s work are derived from their relatives’ experiences of migration and their cherished freedom to travel.

We chat about being raised on pop aesthetics, and how younger generations are exploring the same. Athen aptly names it ‘Nouveau Pop’, I keep calling it ‘Post Pop’. Either works! Whatever the label, we’re trying to summarise how,  when Warhol said “everyone will be famous for 15 minutes” it might now be everything.

Perhaps what Athen and Nina convey so successfully is the ephemerality of pop and the permanence of their Indian heritage. There isn’t a liminal space between these two cultures but, instead, an occupation of both simultaneously. This also became apparent when they mentioned some of their influences: artists Chila Kumari Singh Burman and Prem Sahib, and Bend it Like Beckham director, Gurinder Chadha.

Their upcoming show at Soup Gallery in South London, where both their families reside, marks one year of the duo’s collaboration. I expect Athen and Nina will further explore site-specific installations utilising their matriarchal and diasporic values alongside a deep excavation of their Y2K reserves.