Important Notice

Bharti Kher often refers to her mixed media works with bindis, the mass-produced, yet traditional ornaments Indian women wear on their foreheads, as ‘action paintings’. Painstakingly placed on the surface one-by-one to form a design, the multi-coloured bindis represent custom, often inflexible, as well as the dynamic ways in which it is produced and consumed today.

Explicating the symbolism of the bindi in her work, Kher says, “The... Bharti Kher often refers to her mixed media works with bindis, the mass-produced, yet traditional ornaments Indian women wear on their foreheads, as ‘action paintings’. Painstakingly placed on the surface one-by-one to form a design, the multi-coloured bindis represent custom, often inflexible, as well as the dynamic ways in which it is produced and consumed today.

Explicating the symbolism of the bindi in her work, Kher says, “The bindi is a representation of the third eye – a fantastic narrative is already built into the symbol. There’s the reference to a mass action that goes on across the whole country, every single day, the act of placing a bindi on the forehead. You place something yourself upon yourself as you look at your reflection: the idea that you’ll see the world differently today is affirmative…The dot is like a universe…it’s so loaded and super-clichéd, it’s unbelievable…It’s a space in which politics, violence, sexuality, manipulation…everything goes on…There are many narratives” (rpt. in Anupa Mehta, “Agent Provocateur”, India 20: Conversations with Contemporary Artists, Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad, 2007, p. 60).

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