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The artist, dressed as “Mother India” washes the medical model of a brain. The act is like a ritual, performed with the panache of a magic trick on stage.
Hygiene/Swachh is part of a long term project using multiple media in which the artist interrogates the idea of the nation state: looking at the notorious histories of anthropology, ethnography, and eugenics that ironically define modernizing government projects in the dream of building an ideal community. The artist, by personifying the part of “Mother India”, places herself at the centre of inquiry, admitting her role as agent and effect of history.
Pushpamala N., born in 1956 in Bangalore, India, lives and works in Bangalore. In her sharp and humorous work as a photo and video performance artist, sculptor, writer, and curator, she questions the dominant cultural and intellectual discourse.
Production: Pushpamala N., Bangalore
Camera: Clay Kelton
Cast: Pushpamala N., Babitha Lingraj
Format: 1-channel video installation, Black/White
Running time: 2 min
Language: English
Photo: © Pushpamala N.
