DESI EROS: A Decolonizing Arts-Based Research Project about Reclaiming Erotic Power among Women from the South Asian Diaspora
DESI EROS: A Decolonizing Arts-Based Research Project about Reclaiming Erotic Power among Women from the South Asian Diaspora
Publisher Nisha Gupta
Author Nisha Gupta
How does erotic power manifest in the contemporary lives of diasporic Desi women? And what is the role of the erotic in our indigenous cultures–in the beliefs and practices of our South Asian traditions, faiths, and ancestors? DESI EROS is an arts-based research project that explores these questions through six diasporic Desi women’s lived experiences of “reclaiming erotic power,” as described by their poignant poetry and prose: Shafina Ahmed, Roo Zine, Nisha Gupta, Seema Reza, Mary Ann Mohanraj, and Samra Habib. Each woman’s experience was analyzed for thematic meanings via a process of phenomenological data interpretation. These meanings are represented visually as surrealist folk paintings created by psychologist-artist Dr. Nisha Gupta, with South Asian cultural symbols embedded in each painting. The final artwork and poetic descriptions can be viewed at www.desieros.com, accompanied by essays that liberate and decolonize the meanings of erotic power for Desi women. Some of these meanings have been obscured by our history of being colonized by the British, whose traumatic legacy can distort our understandings of our own cultures, spiritualities, and sexualities. So, this is a work of decolonizing, reclaiming, and celebrating the power of being Desi.
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Author Nisha Gupta
How does erotic power manifest in the contemporary lives of diasporic Desi women? And what is the role of the erotic in our indigenous cultures–in the beliefs and practices of our South Asian traditions, faiths, and ancestors? DESI EROS is an arts-based research project that explores these questions through six diasporic Desi women’s lived experiences of “reclaiming erotic power,” as described by their poignant poetry and prose: Shafina Ahmed, Roo Zine, Nisha Gupta, Seema Reza, Mary Ann Mohanraj, and Samra Habib. Each woman’s experience was analyzed for thematic meanings via a process of phenomenological data interpretation. These meanings are represented visually as surrealist folk paintings created by psychologist-artist Dr. Nisha Gupta, with South Asian cultural symbols embedded in each painting. The final artwork and poetic descriptions can be viewed at www.desieros.com, accompanied by essays that liberate and decolonize the meanings of erotic power for Desi women. Some of these meanings have been obscured by our history of being colonized by the British, whose traumatic legacy can distort our understandings of our own cultures, spiritualities, and sexualities. So, this is a work of decolonizing, reclaiming, and celebrating the power of being Desi.
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C Magazine, Criticism Again
C Magazine, Criticism Again
Publisher C the Visual Arts Foundation
Author Merray Gerges, Editorial Fellow
C Magazine, established in 1984, is a contemporary art and criticism periodical that functions as a forum for significant ideas in art and its contexts. Each quarterly print issue explores a theme that is singularly engaged with emerging and prevailing perspectives through original art writing, criticism and artists’ projects. Our content focuses on the activities of contemporary art practitioners residing in Canada and Canadian practitioners living abroad—with an emphasis on those from Black, Indigenous, diasporic and other equity-seeking communities—as well as on international practices and dialogues. We are committed to facilitating meaningful, pluralistic, interdisciplinary, historically-engaged and imaginative conversations about art. Our readers are visual arts professionals and those with a keen interest in the forms, content and meaning of contemporary art - including artists, curators, art writers and critics, dealers, educators, students, consultants and art collectors. With an emphasis on graphic design, C is printed in full colour on FSC certified paper and perfect bound with a satin matte cover. C Magazine is published quarterly by C The Visual Arts Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization established to present ideas, advance education and document contemporary visual art and artist culture.
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Author Merray Gerges, Editorial Fellow
C Magazine, established in 1984, is a contemporary art and criticism periodical that functions as a forum for significant ideas in art and its contexts. Each quarterly print issue explores a theme that is singularly engaged with emerging and prevailing perspectives through original art writing, criticism and artists’ projects. Our content focuses on the activities of contemporary art practitioners residing in Canada and Canadian practitioners living abroad—with an emphasis on those from Black, Indigenous, diasporic and other equity-seeking communities—as well as on international practices and dialogues. We are committed to facilitating meaningful, pluralistic, interdisciplinary, historically-engaged and imaginative conversations about art. Our readers are visual arts professionals and those with a keen interest in the forms, content and meaning of contemporary art - including artists, curators, art writers and critics, dealers, educators, students, consultants and art collectors. With an emphasis on graphic design, C is printed in full colour on FSC certified paper and perfect bound with a satin matte cover. C Magazine is published quarterly by C The Visual Arts Foundation, a non-profit charitable organization established to present ideas, advance education and document contemporary visual art and artist culture.
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