Corresponding Essay by the Artist
Drawing on philosophical notions of embodiment by Merleau-Ponty, Nietzsche’s theory of Eternal Return, and existentialist thought my practice explores connections between play with surface, the body, and the constitution of the Asian female Self as a way of addressing concerns regarding the construction of South Asian female subjectivity.
For Merleau-Ponty, the physical body is the ‘ground for all perception’ as knowledge is continuously constituted and reconstituted through bodily experience. This process of constitution, which is eternal and inherently unpredictable, according to Nietzsche, is not autonomous or driven by essential forces, but rather a product of historical motion and social dynamics that are constitutive of and constituted by the Subject.
Nietzsche conceived the psyche-Self as a layered, multidimensional construct that is sculpted by early life experiences, traits and dispositions inherited by our ancestors, and ‘traditions and experiments of past cultures that continue to live in us”. It continuously influences our experience, perceptions, and behaviors, that in turn continue to shape it. As such Being does not precede Becoming, as we are both always already constituted and being constituted. To exist then is not to rely on universal truths or essential attributes, but instead is to exercise this psyche-Self through decisive action that is informed by this process and also disrupts it.
I play with surface using color, textured marks, images, and the abstraction of the figure as a way of re-enacting this process of subject-constitution and embodiment. Mark-making serves as a subversive act of existence and the layering allows for multiple temporalities to take hold, making way for new forms of subjectivity.
33 Inch x 46 Inch
Acrylic, Oils, Collage, and Transfers on Paper
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylic, Oils, Collage, and Transfers on Paper
28 Inch x 40 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Canvas
28 Inch x 40 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Canvas
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper.
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper.
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper.
23 Inch x 17 Inch
Acrylic, Collage, and Transfers on Paper
28.5 cm x 20.5 cm
Acrylic, Collage, and Transfers on Paper
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper.
24.3 Inch x 18 .5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper
24.3 Inch x 18 .5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper
28 Inch x 40 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, and Transfers on Canvas
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and collage on Paper
28.5 inch x 20.5 inch
Acrylic, Collage, and Transfers on Paper
26 Inch x 20.5 Inch,
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers and Collage on Paper.
20.5 inch 28. 5 inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Paper
28.5 Inch x 20.5 Inch
Acrylics, Oils, Image Transfers on Paper
22 inch x 32.5 inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Paper
22 inch x 32.5 inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Paper
20 inch x 32 inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Paper
20 inch x 32 inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Paper
33 inch x 45 inch
Acrylics, Oils, Collage and Transfers on Paper