World Away

Short film created from the confines of home during the first full month of lockdown in India (2020).

An animated glance through a loosely bound, handmade book. 

Typewritten in stream-of-consciousness, the words are an unraveling of memory while grappling with the undistinguished death of a man just feet from where I sat at Patuli Junction.

A visualized excerpt from a book of erasure poetry sourced by Rabindranath Tagore's work of the same name. 

Individual poems draw parallels between my early experiences in India such as, here, where I first encountered light pollution to the extent of snuffing out stars in the night sky. All but one.

(Source text in gray, erasures elevated in white.)

(photographic composite)

Contradictions between being 'of the earth' and sharing responsibility for its decay. 

Photographed at my old farmhouse in Ohio and digitally revisited after influences from India.

(pigment print with Ganga water/mud)

From a series of images seeking balance between the preservation of ancient customs and environmental protections.

Emblems of worship awaiting waste collection were photographed, printed, and their representations immersed in tidal Ganga water over the course of several days, alluding to the rituals given to these sculpted deities. With high levels of toxicity in modern paints, etc., the practice of immersion is increasingly regulated in order to protect India's most sacred natural resource.

Created during a commission for Kolkata Sanved.

DMT practitioners at Kolkata Sanved work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse to repair the disembodiment that occurs after victims mentally detach themselves from their bodies.
​

Through guided movement, healing begins when self-expression empowers survivors to reclaim their physical space.

An animated glance through a small book of erasures sourced from Emerson's essay by the same name.

--
observe, observe, the poet's voice in solitude
immortal (sacred, sacred) ephemeral

[...]

million-orbed, million-colored,
the idol of imagination
rambling round creation as a moth round a lamp, 
like the traveler from foreign lands
at home in an expression of art

(pigment print with Ganga water/mud, Kalighat puja thread)

From a series of images seeking balance between the preservation of ancient customs and environmental protections.

Emblems of worship awaiting waste collection were photographed, printed, and their representations immersed in tidal Ganga water over the course of several days, alluding to the rituals given to these sculpted deities. With high levels of toxicity in modern paints, etc., the practice of immersion is increasingly regulated in order to protect India's most sacred natural resource.

This likeness of the goddess Saraswati disappeared from the tidal riverbed on two successive attempts (boatmen had been hired to keep watch). A third attempt was made for this particular image; dipped only momentarily into the water.

The idol's cracks were embroidered using a traditional kantha stitch-- a decorative technique not practical for repair.

A Kolkata hotel approved for institutional quarantine by the state government.

Part of an informal and ongoing series documenting various places I have slept. This and several other images made in India are a spin-off of previous project work made in America.

Photographed for Free Body Project in collaboration with Kolkata Sanved.

DMT practitioners at Kolkata Sanved work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse to repair the disembodiment that occurs after victims mentally detach themselves from their bodies.
​

Through guided movement, healing begins when self-expression empowers survivors to reclaim their physical space.

Created during a commission for Kolkata Sanved.

DMT practitioners at Kolkata Sanved work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse to repair the disembodiment that occurs after victims mentally detach themselves from their bodies.
​

Through guided movement, healing begins when self-expression empowers survivors to reclaim their physical space.

(unfiltered Kalighat clay)

Sculpted to document the early days of lockdown: spending countless hours in this position while observing the world through an open window.

(inkjet print, watercolor pigment)

From a collection of individual works touching upon themes of fertility, femininity and mysticism.

From a collection of work touching upon themes of fertility, femininity and mysticism.

(digital composite)

Created in response to the Covid pandemic.

(clay, copper wire, paper)

*easel for animation purposes only

(salt print)

Temple steps photographed in the hill station of Lamahatta ('monk's hut). The first time I visited in 2016, Lamahatta felt nearly untouched besides a park installed by the state government. When I returned just 3 years later, I had driven through Lamahatta without even recognizing it. What was once perhaps 5 or 6 homes in a bend of mountain road, had exploded into a small tourist town filled with shops, restaurants and homestays.

I consider myself not as looking at a problem, but also being a part of it. Craving something that feels untouched and going there. But when *everyone* feels and does the same, that changes a place...in a way that cannot be undone.

What is the solution?

(transparency negative, metallic pigment, paper collage, string)

of special note: This red string was a signature mark I used on pieces created between marriages, during contemplations on how an essential part of my identity (surname) was inextricably linked to my relationships with men. 

A collection of images featuring the Bengali landscape surrounding my home.

A collection of images featuring the Bengali landscape surrounding my home.

A collection of images featuring the Bengali landscape surrounding my home.

Here, clay dolls are presented as offerings of gratitude after a specific prayer has been granted.

A collection of images featuring the Bengali landscape surrounding my home.

A collection of photographs featuring the Bengali landscape surrounding my home.

A collection of images featuring the Bengali landscape surrounding my home.

(soil chromatography)

Shantiniketan's iconic red dirt roads are being erased through an influx of tourism and rapid commercial development in a region historically celebrated for its idyllic countryside and deep, cultural roots.

A jar of soil was collected during road construction near my home and preserved through the photographic process of soil chromatography, creating a visual fingerprint of the land's mineral composition.

As the landscape shifts before my very eyes, I set out to make something permanent and beautiful from these roads before they disappear completely. 

(soil chromatography)

Shantiniketan's iconic red dirt roads are being erased through an influx of tourism and rapid commercial development in a region historically celebrated for its idyllic countryside and deep, cultural roots.

A jar of soil was collected during road construction near my home and preserved through the photographic process of soil chromatography, creating a visual fingerprint of the land's mineral composition.

As the landscape shifts before my very eyes, I set out to make something permanent and beautiful from these roads before they disappear completely. 

(soil chromatography)

Shantiniketan's iconic red dirt roads are being erased through an influx of tourism and rapid commercial development in a region historically celebrated for its idyllic countryside and deep, cultural roots.

A jar of soil was collected during road construction near my home and preserved through the photographic process of soil chromatography, creating a visual fingerprint of the land's mineral composition.

As the landscape shifts before my very eyes, I set out to make something permanent and beautiful from these roads before they disappear completely. 

Installation views from The Discarded Ones solo exhibition at Ohio University Southern Gallery. 

Kolkata is famous for its street-side tea served in small, handmade clay cups.  Treated as organic disposables, drinkers toss their cup after the final sip, fracturing it upon the ground. During my first year in the city, I couldn’t bring myself to throw away these handmade pieces; instead discreetly placing each used cup within my bag.

The collection grew thick with symbolism as I considered themes of consumption, permanence and memory. I began to imprint memories into certain cups- one with a burn mark, another with a noticeable lipstick impression- branding them with a particular moment in time.

(Exhibition visitors were invited to face a similar choice by either keeping one of these cups or smashing it upon the ground.)

(ziatype, watercolor, embroidery)

Photographed in the American Southwest but re-contemplated & processed during a period of isolation in Shantiniketan, WB, India.

(red stone, puja thread, twine, paper, canvas)

From a collection of individual works touching upon themes of fertility, femininity and mysticism.

(lead, stone, paint, metal leaf)

From a collection of individual works touching upon themes of fertility, femininity and mysticism.

(soil chromatography with digital composite)


Shantiniketan's iconic red dirt roads are being erased through an influx of tourism and rapid commercial development in a region historically celebrated for its idyllic countryside and deep, cultural roots.

A jar of soil was collected during road construction near my home and preserved through the photographic process of soil chromatography, creating a visual fingerprint of the land's mineral composition.

As the landscape shifts before my very eyes, I set out to make something permanent and beautiful from these roads before they disappear completely. 

(pigment print with Ganga water/mud)

From a series of images seeking balance between the preservation of ancient customs and environmental protections.

Emblems of worship awaiting waste collection were photographed, printed, and their representations immersed in tidal Ganga water over the course of several days, alluding to the rituals given to these sculpted deities. With high levels of toxicity in modern paints, etc., the practice of immersion is increasingly regulated in order to protect India's most sacred natural resource.