Pushpamala N

Pushpamala N has been called  “the most entertaining artist-iconoclast of contemporary Indian art”. In her sharp and witty work as a performance artist, sculptor, writer, curator and provocateur, and in her collaborations with writers, filmmakers and theatre directors, she seeks to subvert the dominant discourse. Starting her career as a narrative sculptor, she began working in photo-and video- performance in the mid- 1990s, placing herself as the artist at the centre of social and political inquiry.  
 
In her ‘photo-romances’, studio photographs and experimental short films, the artist seduces the viewers through spectacular and elusive narratives, transgressing the limitations of mimetic figural representation while remaining centrally concerned with the narration of the female form. Collectively, Pushpamala's work engages with postcolonial theory and a feminist historical gaze. Recently Pushpamala has been expanding her photographic practice into the medium of live performance and sculpture, interrogating the idea of the nation state.
 
Born in Bangalore, Pushpamala studied sculpture at the Faculty of Fine Arts, MS University, Baroda and currently lives and works in Bangalore, India. Her work has been shown extensively in India and internationally and is in major museum collections.