Dr Mandakini Devi’s Exploration of Myths
To see and create the world not only through the clarifying lens of optical verisimilitude or dominant narratives but also through its fractures and distortions—the fragmentation and coexistence of mythic and contemporary time, the angst and ecstasy of the self, and the myriad reflections and refractions—is the tremendous effort and achievement of Dr Mandakini Devi’s solo exhibition, ‘Fractured and Lensicular’ curated by Jyoti A Kathpalia.
The exhibition is open for viewing from 14 Nov 2024 to 27 Nov 2024, at Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française de Delhi. Over thirty of Dr Mandakini Devi’s lens-based works – Light Boxes, Lenticular Prints, Cyanotypes, Photobooks and Film will be on display.
What does ‘Fractured and Lensicular’ Entail?
Prof Andrew Bick, Professor of Contemporary Art, University of Gloucestershire will be the chief guest and inaugurate the exhibition giving his insights into the digital and mixed media artworks of Dr Mandakini Devi. The exhibition will also have art talks and workshops on digital, lens-based art. In India, this is an exciting field that remains largely underexplored, offering vast potential for innovation and engagement.
Dr Mandakini Devi’s Subjects
Dr Mandakini Devi takes digital and fine art beyond traditional optical processes or lenticular vision into a realm of self-reflexivity, multilayering and startling minutiae to denote the splits, the fractures that construe another realm of experience that are often hidden behind the perfect image and aesthetics. Mandakini Devi’s subject matter is fascinatingly eclectic, ranging from Indian traditions, art and architecture from ancient times be it the bronze sculptures or the tantric traditions, or images from European Renaissance art and street art all become a part of the complex layers establishing tantalising simultaneities and alternative visualities that challenge linearity.
In the words of Dr Mandakini Devi, “Genealogies and the autobiographical seem to unconsciously emerge from my visual presentations be they paintings, lens-based or multimedia works….”
Curator Jyoti A Kathpalia on ‘Fractured and Lensicular’
Curator Jyoti A Kathpalia says, “Since the effort of the artists is to look at the world through the lens of the self, at one important level then her works – lenticulars and cyanotypes as well as her mixed media artworks are an attempt to rewrite and foreground a different perception of the self and feminine through breakages, fractures, layering and collage.”
About Dr Mandakini Devi
Dr Mandakini Devi (b 1984) is a painting graduate from one of India’s premier art colleges, The Delhi College of Art. After completing her graduation, Dr Devi completed her postgraduate studies and a practice-based PhD in the United Kingdom. She is primarily a lens-based artist who works in the realm of identity politics, sexuality and the self, drawing on myths and metaphors to explore and question dominant visualities blending her fine art training with lens-based and digital technology. She has participated in many prestigious national and international exhibitions. This would be her first solo exhibition after her return from the UK.
Image Courtesy – Dr Mandakini Devi
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