My art practice is an exploration of issues related to gender and the human condition, drawing a connection between the society, its conditioning and responses/acts that emerge from these. For me, the artwork is an emotional presentiment to our inner and outer situation, locating it amidst several socio-cultural and political contexts. My work has developed from small intimate and intricate paintings to large three-dimensional sculptural installations in wood, terracotta, fiberglass, wire and thread. The thread has been explored in various ways – sewing, crocheting, stitching, painting and also using them in installations for the past 15 years.
I have been questioning the unending repetitive feminine tasks of adornment, of providing love and warmth, of repairing objects and relations, of innocent acts of silent violence towards one’s own self and others, while conforming to the culturally defined roles and identities. The artworks deal with feelings of emptiness that we live with due to these unsaid expectations. The ‘thread’ sometimes symbolizes the social fiber, relations and conflicts, and at other times, draws reference to blood vessels. The threads, throbbing with life create intricate, swirling patterns, shocking and compelling, twisting and turning, infinitely into a cycle of decay and repair. I often employ the images of sewing, knitting, using the related tools in my work to emphasize connotations with warmth, home, protection and childhood, and also to revisit and reexamine the cultural preconceptions surrounding it. The imagery of instruments, also denote the idea of the self as a tool, which makes and breaks itself and deals with both the inner and outer circumstances. My work subverts these preconceptions and the notion of the image as being passive and benign. The works further enlarge and scrutinize the idea of repair and rebuilding as an unending recurring feminine task. The powerlessness to effect change and the silent violence inherent in society, form my primary areas of challenge and inquiry.
My art practice has evolved from questioning intimate experiences of conditioning to larger questions of relations, laws and systems that affect us. Over the past few years I have been creating, enlarging, bending and twisting common everyday objects. The purpose was to comment on the dysfunctional lives that we live. The tools appear to be misshapen, having lost their purpose and become completely useless. The scissors no longer cut the threads that it was entangled in. The hammer was twisted and could bend nothing. The objects had lost their meaning and intent, disfigured, and disillusioned, these instruments became absurd symbols of gentle pathos and humor. As symbols of functionality, from personal, political or societal standpoints, they remain constantly challenged, twisted, distorted, broken or perverted for convenience and greed.