ARTIST STATEMENT: HOLY HEAD SPACE
Three eyes, ten hands, four heads, blue skin and more, these are some of the unique physical characteristics of how we depict religious icons in Hindu mythology. However, if we look further, some of these characters resemble how extra-terrestrial life, aliens and monsters are portrayed, especially in animations and movies. For instance, animations like the Power Puff Girls (PPG), Monsters Inc. and more have characters which share similar physical traits to our mythological icons.
Hinduism is influenced by cosmology, spirituality and does not have any fixed governing bodies. It is more of beliefs and traditions that are followed. Therefore, perhaps, these religious icons too are from the outer space. Perhaps, the gods and goddesses reside in the eternal galaxy. This is the idea that I play with in my series Holy Head Space. The series experiments with and fantasizes the idea of creating famous religious characters based in outer space. I have tried merging traditional icons with the western style animations created in the 90s and later. I am an avid follower of the 90s animations like the PPG, Dexter’s Laboratory along with other animations from the Hanna Barbera franchise I saw during my growing up years. I was brought up in the old artistic city of Patan in a traditional Newar family among temples, festivals and everyday religious rituals. Through this series I am celebrating my childhood nostalgia with present culture and society.
ARTIST BIO
Shraddha Shrestha is an independent muralist, illustrator and a visual artist based in Kathmandu. She has a master’s degree of design in illustration from the Glasgow School of Art. She has been active in the street art scene in Kathmandu since 2011. She is currently part of an illus- trators collective called Virangana Comics and has recently published the first all women comics anthology in Nepal. Growing up in the aesthetically rich city of Patan has played a big part in her journey as an artist.
Date 21-03-2022