A(muse)ing the self curated by Nandita Shastri

Curatorial Statement: 

Sacred rivers have evermore been personified as female divinities in Indian mythology. These water bodies are particularized as “pure” or “sacred,” though reality may be far from it today. In evidence, the clothing industry too views women as fluid, capable of morphing into any shape they are poured into–obligated to it trends that appear and disappear; obligated to play roles that have been assigned to them and read from scripts that have been designed for them. In correspondence, however, the propensity to both create and annihilate does equate the feminine with water. 

The female body has long been transmuted in the name of culture, customs, and traditions; it has been painted by men, either to serve as the modest Mother Mary or the vanity instilled in Suzannas and Venuses with their mirrors and boudoir scenes, leaving no space for the in between. Curated by Nandita V. Shastri, ‘A(muse)ing the Self’ seeks to provide an all-sensory experience of the ever-evolving feminine. 

Being their own muses and journeying through the landscape of their bodies, the artists assert reclamation of their persona via prisms of pleasure and struggle, eventually leading to the discovery of their sensualities. Early feminists used their bodies too, but aggressively, in order to fight patriarchy and misogyny. In lieu of the former, this exhibition seeks to embrace the indigenous expressions of Sringara and Rati and celebrates the female form not as sexual objects coveted as “possessions”, but rather explores the relationship between women and their “gaze of self.     

The 18 artists that were on display:  

1. Advithi Emmi
2. Amrutha Pradeep 
3. Antara Mukherji
4. Giananjan Kaur Chahal Ilm 
5. Mahima Lakhotia 
6. Manashri Pai Dukle 
7. Munira Nizam Diwan 
8. Pankti Sanghvi   
9. Raksha 
10. Ramona Diaz 
11. Ramyashree R. 
12. Siddhi Bapat  
13. Sol 
14. Triparna Mishra 
15. Vaishnavi R. Manohar 
16. Varsha Ananda 
17. Varshini Chandrashekar 
18. Vijayalakshmi