Pushpamala N is an artist who has incorporated popular culture
into her work, adopting various popular personas and ironic
roles as a vehicle for examining issues of gender, place and
history. The comic aspect of her work carries a particularly
sharp edge in her photo-based installations and projections,
exposing cultural and gender stereotyping while exploring
the complex terrain of contemporary urban life in India. This
is especially true of the work in Secular Practice, a series
of twenty-two black and white photographs titled Phantom Lady
or Kismet: A Photoromance, from 1998. Pushpamala N has exhibited
widely in India and internationally, including in the exhibition
that represented India at the First Johannesburg Biennale
in 1995. Formerly from Bombay, she lives in Bangalore.
Images:
Pushpamala N, from Phantom Lady or Kismet, A Photoromance,
1998, 22 black & white photographs with hand-written texts.
