Untitled no. 34 The series Goddess of Flowers is based upon the eponymous Indian bandit turned politician Phoolan Devi. This project formed the visual component to my Phd, and took up a final chapter in my dissertation - so I suppose it covered a myriad of converging interests at this time of my life – and it is difficult to re-cap on it . So, briefly - cribbing sections froms here and there, let me highlight some concerns.
Untitled no.43 Through this series I wanted to examine and provoke contemporary discourses on, sexuality, nationality and Nationhood, and set out to do so via the processes of narrative or myth-making which occur in many forms: local and global, private and public, past and present.
Untitled no.24 The tale of Phoolan Devi, (Flower Goddess) is a real life story that through its various re-tellings and permutations; from local village slander and caste politics to the international film world has likewise re-imagined the terror of Chambal into the infamous Bandit Queen, an archtypal character of modern mythic proportion. The violence of the story and its savant qualities maintains a correlation with the mythological narratives that represents the country’s beliefs and raises the perpetual questions of identity and gender politics, and female liberation. It resounds with the love, violence and incarnations of the great myths of Hinduism and also with the sexual and unrequited love musings of Urdu poetry. Through these many intimate connections Phoolan Devi becomes a mythical character, a various inversion of the many incarnations of Sati (Mahadevi), and the problematic discourses of womanhood, identity and power. The themes so eloquently eulogised upon from the Upanishad’s to the Mahabaratha are here recovered for a contemporary context: Good and Evil. Revenge and Salvation. Love and Hate. Desire and Belief. Finally resulting in the essential myth making of the life of Phoolan Devi, which with its universal themes speaks like all myth across cultures and transcends dialogue into discourse.
detail: Untitled no.10 The release of the movie Bandit Queen internationally exonerated Phoolan Devi’s voice and life choices, while simultaneously representing the plight of third world women and lower castes to either vilification or acclaim. It demonstrates the abduction and corruption of localised themes into and for a global market. The story reflects the idea of voices, stories consistent with cultural theory and how these change or are adapted with colonisations, migrations, interpretations etc. And questions who is telling these stories: which cultures carry the global voice? Who can speak? And for whom? Poolan Devi’s story comes to represent the political and cultural female. Changing and shifting from bandit to politician and simultaneously from victimized third world woman to celebrated third world heroine.
detail: Untitled no. 12 Conscious to the common practice of pairing the concepts of Nation and tradition, I wanted to employ craft techniques and associations to play out the essential antagonisms of such grouping and labeling.
In dealing with the notion of tradition as representative of Nation, visual culture is tantamount to such discourse. In depicting the story of Phoolan Devi I wanted to delve into the rich iconography that abounds in India, and which ably retains its cultural resonance even when appropriated outside of its context. Similar to the inspired Chinoiserie of France, Indian textile and design secure an extensive history of incorporation into Western fashion, from the paisley insignia of Liberty prints to refined Indian motifs in leading European style houses. Additionally I was interested in the juxtaposition of these global and historical concerns. Against the ‘glitter and glitz’ of Bollywood, the craft of Indian artisans, the application of Henna designs, and working these with contemporary western images of violence, and with further reference to Hentai (Japanese erotic Manga) already prevalent in my work. The henna motif traditionally related to Indian ceremonies was employed as a template for the pieces, (as hands or feet and were directly sourced from diagrams for the application of henna motifs). This device then serves to refer to the art/craft arguments within visual theory and also to the commodification of folk/craft cultures into the global market: the bindi, henna designs, and Indian motifs in European fashions and textiles. The foot template comes to represent rites of passage: exile journeys and covered landmasses. In this visual form they perform narrative functions; the foot physically and metaphorically represents the passages traversed by Phoolan Devi, whilst the hands offer breaks in the story- points of contemplation.
Untitled no. 31 Life of Phoolan Devi:
Born to an impoverished low-caste family of boatmen, at eleven Phoolan Devi was married to an elderly and violent husband. Her numerous escape attempts eventually brought about a separation; but in village society the divorcee is a taboo status - such women ostracized and regarded immoral – thus even before she became a bandit Devi is seen as an outlaw. It is this status that abets the central infamy of her story: her rape and public humiliation at the hands of a group of upper-caster Thakur men. After these events she fled to the hostile ravines of Uttar Pradesh where she managed to ingratiate herself with a band of Dacoits, eventutally becoming their leader. Under her direction they extracted a violent and bloody execution of her rapists.
Untitled no. 33 Hijacking trucks, abducting the sons of rich landlords and looting villages, her infamy grew, and for years she was both revered and feared as a foul-mouthed outlaw and a champion of the downtrodden. Finally, in a highly orchestrated event Devi surrendered to police in 1983. Upon release in 1994, which coincided with Shekhar Kapur’s film on her, Devi entered politics, representing the underprivileged plights of the lower-caste and women. Mulayam Singh Yadev, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh viewed her as potential weapon in his war against the state’s traditional high-caste elites. By 1996 Devi was the official candidate for his Socialist Party (Samajwadi Party) in the constituent of Mirzapur, despite illiteracy and innumeracy. Once again Devi was made victim to larger social and political machinations. Her subsequent marriage to a wealthy real estate businessman, and living iin an elite neighbourhood, bought into question her relationship to her representation of the lower-caste and further ostracised her amidst the upper caste. Once more her radical attitude was target to social and political machinations, and at 1.20pm on the 25th of July 2001 Phoolan Devi was shot in the head by two masked gunmen outside her house.
Untitled no. 16
