Pushpamala N. The Navarasa Suite from the series Bombay Photo Studio. 2003

Pushpamala N The Navarasa Suite from the series Bombay Photo Studio 2003

  • Not on view

Staged and shot at the studio of JH Thakker, a leading photography studio of “Golden Age” Indian film stars, in these works the artist uses her own body to create an intricate masquerade that combines elements of humor, storytelling, and feminist critique. For the Navarasa Suite within this series, Pushpamala assumes the guises of the nine rasas, or moods, from Sanskrit literature and Hindu artistic culture. In taking on these popular tropes, Pushpamala offers commentary on how Indian cinema has, in the artist’s words, “both created and recorded the country’s modernity.”

Additional text from 2020
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
25 7/8 × 19 15/16" (65.7 × 50.6 cm)
Credit
John Szarkowski Fund
Object number
28.2018.9
Copyright
© 2021 Pushpamala N
Series
The Navarasa Suite from the series Bombay Photo Studio
Department
Photography
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