Queen of the Domestic Kingdom
2017
This series of self portraits, Queen of the Domestic Kingdom, talks of the weight and pressure I feel by my roles and responsibilities. My earlier portrait sketches always depicted the protagonist as turned away from the viewer, but gradually this dialogue changed. I came to realise that though I was conditioned to look at the role in the home as a responsibility and duty, it is a part of my life that I enjoy creating and building, and consequently want to celebrate. This then brought me to looking at the objects that guide this part of my life as embellishments to take pride in — to be worn as crowns.
Using the pages of a Gujarati cookbook (from the year 1963) my grandfather had given me — one with a deeply patriarchal tone of instructions regarding the place of a woman in the kitchen — I place the self portraits facing the onlooker directly, and holding their gaze.
Using the pages of a Gujarati cookbook (from the year 1963) my grandfather had given me — one with a deeply patriarchal tone of instructions regarding the place of a woman in the kitchen — I place the self portraits facing the onlooker directly, and holding their gaze.
