Nandini Chandavarkar: my body FRAGMENT/ED, 2023
My encounter with an eighteenth-century English delftware plate featuring the biblical canon of the Temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden in the National Museum Wales prompted my recent work. The painterly depiction shows both Adam and Eve gesturing towards the serpent, yet it was Eve’s gesture that struck me. She appears to confront the spectator, her expression almost mocking, pointing with her middle finger, fully aware of the trick transpiring against her.
Viewed through a contemporary lens, Eve’s gesture seems to convey defiance, as if she is giving the snake—and the viewer—the finger. This action, interpreted as a phallic sign in contemporary culture, embodies a sense of dissent that resonates with feminist discourse.
The pointing finger, a fragment of one’s body, offers agency to the person doing the pointing, much like Eve herself. By incorporating the image and imprint of my pointing finger on the ceramic plates, I point to the verbal objectification of my body that is constantly pointed out to me. In turn, the iridescent, glazed nipple becomes an emblem of this objectification. This provocation, further reinforced by the visceral red hue, invites critical reflection and dialogue on the struggle for bodily autonomy within patriarchal constructs.
Drawing from a rich bank of images depicting feminine tropes in historical narratives, popular culture, and mass media, I employ a collage methodology that contrasts white earthenware with red terracotta clay. Overlapping techniques such as monoprinting and analogue transfers pervade the ceramic surface with a palimpsest-like aesthetic. This layered, repetitive process aims to create a visual tension, deliberately disrupting the viewer’s ability to fully grasp the image. By way of ‘glaze faults,’ the surface qualities render the female body image ‘pulling away’ from the viewer’s gaze, blurring the boundaries of identity and drawing from the tacit knowledge intrinsic to the material itself—alluding to the post-colonial experience.
Captions
- Installation images 1-7 of my body FRAGMENT/ED at the Masters Show, 2023, at Cardiff School of Art & Design, Wales (UK). Photos by Evan Jones
- Konkani Beauty (Eve, Eve II, Self, Playmates, Self II), 2023, Stoneware tiles, each 27h x 19.4w x 0.9d cm. Photos by Evan Jones
- Your Perfect Tits, 2023, Terracotta, (l) 21.4h x 39.7w x 19.3d cm, (r) 21.1h x 39.9w x 17.8d cm. Photos by Evan Jones
- Pointing Finger (Platter), 2023, Stoneware, 44.5h x 46.5w x 5d cm. Photo by Evan Jones
- Pointing Finger (Stacked Plates), 2023, Stoneware & red thread, dimensions variable. Photos by Evan Jones
- Your Perfect Tits (MOP), 2023, Terracotta, (l) 6.5h x 10.3w x 7d cm (r) 6.5h x 10.3w x 7d cm. Photos by Evan Jones
