Date of Award

6-2022

Document Type

Open Access

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science

Department

Studio Fine Arts

First Advisor

Chris Duncan

Keywords

Installation, sculpture, textile, gender, figure, woman, empowerment

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of sculpture and installation. My project depicts a narrative of generational emancipation of women. The narrative was inspired by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel, ‘Forest of Enchantments,’ in which she rewrites the ‘Ramayana’ with Sita, the female character, as the protagonist instead. The Ramayana is a popular Hindu mythological story that revolves around Prince Rama’s quest to rescue his wife Sita from the perils of the villain Raavana. This story encapsulates the undertones of the patriarchal culture in India. This My thesis installation stands as a symbol of generational transformation of love and what it means to be the woman in a marriage. The process of making this work has included steel welding, plaster modeling, woodshop tools, textile work, and installation.

The installation involves a model, representing myself, sitting at a traditional foot-pedal sewing machine. My grandmother’s saree glides off the table and extends towards the ceiling; as if almost flying in the air. The saree is inscribed with one of Sita’s golden statements, as written by Divakaruni, “I bless my daughters who are yet unborn, I pray that if life tests them, they will think carefully and understand when they need to compromise and when they must not.” iv

Drawing inspiration from George Segal, Alison Saar, Zoey Frank, Marta Pérez García and Dhruvi Acharya, I was able to create an ‘environment’ installation. I used plaster strips to create a reproduction of my model; the process is similar to using paper-mâché. Welding and woodwork were used to build the environment for the figure and textile work was used for the narrative script.

Share

COinS
 

Rights Statement

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted.