Resonating to the lost echoes, fiberSculpture, Mirrors, dry hey, 6ft high sculpture, 5x2.5 ft mirrors 4 pieces
Ardhanarishwara is a form of lord Shiva, which has half masculine and half feminine body, metaphorically representing the interdependency and equality of genders. Here, I have sculpted only male side. The oversized larger than life proportion is to show the strong male dominance in the patriarchal Indian society. Whereas female side of the sculpture is absent. It is replaced with dead branches of banyan tree, which are the symbol of reproduction but it couldn’t grow. This is how I understand the irony of being a women in the country, which still worships Ardhanarishwara. The deliberate reproduction of classical historical Ardhanarishwara is to suggest the ancient idealistic iconography. Here, the mirror beneath acts like an oasis of such Indian philosophical idealism, which is very much present in the cultural memory, but don’t really exist in contemporary society.