Artist Statement
My work, Self Portrait, questions the true identity of our beloved human race. The self portrait in my work is not simply a depiction of my being or my sole experiences, but represents the collective voice of a crowd – a crowd seeking to rise and transcend to a place or state where there is no differentiation between gender, sexuality, race, caste, creed, disability and class, where we are essentially all one and the same from within. The intention of my work is to raise awareness and spring consciousness in others about their own existence. It provides others with a different perspective in the concept of identity, which is not based upon mere constraints of the mind.
My work, Self Portrait, questions the true identity of our beloved human race. The self portrait in my work is not simply a depiction of my being or my sole experiences, but represents the collective voice of a crowd – a crowd seeking to rise and transcend to a place or state where there is no differentiation between gender, sexuality, race, caste, creed, disability and class, where we are essentially all one and the same from within. The intention of my work is to raise awareness and spring consciousness in others about their own existence. It provides others with a different perspective in the concept of identity, which is not based upon mere constraints of the mind.
I like my prints to be free and unrestricted; as such, I have attempted to break out of certain conventions of screenprinting. The drawings are repeated through the action of screenprinting across a surface; I then incorporate pieces of tape and place them on top of the print, which covers, imposes, hides, reveals and amplifies the bodies and their presence at the same time. An additional compositional layer, created with subtle coloured dots, rests atop. In its totality, tension is created between the organically hand-drawn and the mechanically reproduced states of making and experiencing the image.
All images courtesy of the artist.
Text Shivangi Ladha
Date 22-02-2021