The Word of God(ess): Chitra Ganesh is the third exhibition in The Word of God series, which examines major world religions and their texts through contemporary art.
The Word of God(ess): Chitra Ganesh’s Tales of Amnesia
July 9 – September 4, 2011
Sacred texts are considered by many to be the direct words of God to man. How this Word is passed down and received is dependent on the people, languages and cultures in which it is presented. This series explores the questions: what is the best version of the Word of God; and does the artistic rendering of it enhance understanding or is some essential truth lost in translation?
Chitra Ganesh’s artwork combines different visual languages, cannons and cultures, including comic books, Bollywood cinema and iconic goddesses from Hindu folklore. Ganesh creates cross-cultural narratives about sexuality and power that may sit in comic book frames where interior thoughts are revealed in bubbles or –as in her wall installations– hover in psychedelic space with three-dimensional elements that protrude into contemporary reality. This exhibition includes artworks based on the comic, Amar Chitra Katha, which Ganesh read as a young person and that is still in print today. The enormously popular comic (over 90 million printed) began in the 1960s to teach children in India and the Diaspora; about Hindu myths, Indian history and culture; as well as to teach children proper behavior through specific characters. Ganesh’s work based on the ACK comics is a 21 part work titled the Tales of Amnesia.
