STATEMENT
“THE HIGHEST EDUCATION IS THAT WHICH DOES NOT MERELY GIVE US INFORMATION BUT MAKES OUR LIFE IN HARMONY WITH ALL EXISTENCE.” (TAGORE, PERSONALITY 1917)
In my experience, violence is neither male nor female, as both men and women can be violent. The root of violence is, from my perspective the lack of Love. Love as Prem in Sanskrit. Love as the opposite of fear. Reflecting on my own life, the most painful violence is when we hold internalise oppression against ourselves when we’re too scared to be who we truly are.
Through new media, performance, ludic spaces, installation, math geometry, text/speech, songs/mantras, I explore the topic of compassion and inner joy beyond matter and mind. This exploration responds to the ostracism, exotification, pathologisation, invasive and life-threatening situations I’ve faced as a transgender woman in both private and public spaces.
show moreI have been inspired by pre-Columbian wisdom and ancestral cultures/deities. Notable examples include the Tida Wena (Warao) in Venezuela, indigenous peoples of the Andes, the Kinnar/Hijra in India, and the story of goddess Quan Yin. Although I do not belong to these communities, they have inspired me to reflect on my own origins and spirituality, on who we are after leaving the physical body. As an initiated Vaishnava, I am inspired by Hindu stories of deities like Radhe Krishna and Katyayani Devi, as well as saints like Sri Lalita Sakhi Dasi (Sakhi Ma) and Sage Ashtavakra whose body was bent/ deformed (Hunchback) and people laughed aloud at his appearance.
Before embracing art, I completed studies in materials science. This experience shapes my work, which navigates the tension between reductionism in science (classical particle paradigm) and the permissions of art. I draw on quantum thinking as conceptual tool to move beyond rigid dualisms such as the separation observer from observed, “us versus them” or “man versus nature”.
This exploration has given rise to the ongoing project Pineapple Laboratories, which I began in 2020. In the work Pachamama (2021-23) I explore co-creatively the topic environmental compassion and connexion to Mother Earth. The Jewel Jellyfish Collection (2023-24) explores self compassion as bioluminescence, a personal journey where light emerges from within in dark circumstances. The work, What is in Me (2024) is dedicated to Radha, the Hindu goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. The installation Let Go (2024) is a fluid particle simulation onto a corner window evoking the Sea of Samsara.
Kamalanetra
August 2024 (Revised February 2025)
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