Kanchana Gupta
While She Quivers (exhibition installation view), 2022, single-channel video
Kanchana Gupta in conversation with Shristi Sainani.
Kanchana Gupta's practice indulges the thought of materiality with a process that forms the impetus and structure behind most of her works. She uses vernacular socio-political mediums of vermillion powder, henna, sandalwood, and reclaimed materials like jute and tarpaulins alongside contemporary oil paint and canvas. Each brings its identity, symbology, texture, and temperament, manipulated to alter its inherent properties and contexts. Her recent fascination nudges an investigation towards a process-driven exploration of, and response to, urban environments. Gupta's video works extrapolate the absence/presence of the human body and confront the trope of received femininity and its expected attributes.
What were your first memories of art? Was there a moment of epiphany where you thought you had found your calling?
The places I come from and the materials I interacted with growing up influence my practice. I carry a sense of their visuals. Whether it’s the socially loaded jute or tarpaulin, which is reminiscent of Mumbai, or whether it is my childhood association of seeing the lace as an attire reserved for Christian women. Born and brought up in a small village in Bihar, I am the daughter of a farmer. I come from a lower middle-class family, where I could easily be seen as a rebel. In a rather conservative family and society, my mother had to bear five daughters before she could have a son. I never shied away from the feeling of anger when it came to the male heir holding such importance. I wanted to be the son of the family. Because of that, as you see in my art, I refuse to be bound by any form, medium, structure, or framework. To me, diversity simply is. My art is about saying things that I want to say, making things that create a personal experience. There is also the influence of my mother, a powerful woman.
FOLDED PIERCED STRETCHED (exhibition installation view), Sullivan+Strumpf, Singapore, January 15 — February 20, 2022
You were born in India and received your Bachelor Of Arts from Patna Women's College, where you were a Gold Medalist. You then moved to Singapore for your Master's at LASALLE College of the Arts. Please share a bit about your journey—what significant changes or experiences have stayed with you?
My mother married at the young age of 16. By the time she was 18, she had her first child. Soon after, she moved to Patna to get her daughters educated. I always viewed education as an escape and channeling of my anger. My parents supported my growth, and in 1994, India opened up, and I took my chance and found a job in Mumbai. The move from Mumbai to Singapore resulted from my being a trailing spouse.
One day, I walked into Lasalle College of Fine Arts and, being impulsive by temperament, decided to enroll. I liked what I saw, the environment. By then, I was ten years into a corporate career, but I wanted to learn something different, and I had never done art in my life! I hadn't drawn a single line. And here I was in my early 30s in a space where people were painting, with people playing guitar. I wanted to be part of this environment. So I remember asking the faculty if I could enroll, and they said, do you have a portfolio? I had no idea. I joined the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts for a year, which has a traditional format with charcoal drawings and a rigid structure. I loved that it built my foundation as a painter, a foundation of colors and their relationship. That was the most fascinating. Nanyang is where I made my portfolio.
I returned to my boss, and she said okay, I'll give you two years of sabbatical. So I got two years of sabbatical to join Lasalle, with children half my age. My colleagues at work thought I would need more time to finish the course. But I did. And in my final year, what I did enjoy at Lasalle was that there was no rigidity. In the last six months, there was leeway to do independent research, which gave my practice its trajectory. I chose markers of gender identity for Indian women because, again, the channelization of that anger I held close as a child was very important.
Production of Desire - Take #002, The Code of Seduction (video still), 2021, single-channel video installation
What have been some of your most essential references throughout your practice?
My work is a narrative that stems from personal experiences. We're children of the 80s, and a common theme of some of my work, specifically my work in moving images titled 'Production of Desire' where I use my body, has an inherent connection to my heritage. I can't detach myself and my story from my work.
Cinema's construct, especially that of a female form, is universal. For instance, the James Bond girl in a bikini is a construct of western society, while Sridevi in a white chiffon is a construct of Indian cinema—also, Maggie Cheung in "In The Mood for Love." I remember seeing Cheung in that film, wearing very sexy, high-slit, very demure, submissive attire. Whatever cinema you look at, there is an underlying theme that creates a desirable female form. That becomes iconic.
Interestingly, even though I'm talking about the cinema of the 80s and 90s, a lot has stayed the same. Instagram and YouTube have replaced cinema. For even the young generation, the construct of a female remains. It's just that every decade the image changes. It's Sushmita Sen in the 90s, Deepika Padukone in the 2000s, or Kim Kardashians now. The phenomenon has grown even more.
Cinema has sexualized some garments, and it's hard to unlearn the symbolism that comes alongside them. You will never look at chiffon in the same way. This categorization, or personification, has become a reference point for women for many generations. So there is a universal theme in 'Production of Desire.' And even though I bring Indian cinema construct through my body, many people empathize with it.
Production of Desire - Take #002, The Code of Seduction (video still), 2021, single-channel video installation
You have worked in multiple mediums, from sculpture to moving images and performance. If you have a preferred medium, what dictates the choice of your mode of expression?
The switch from one medium to another comes from a certain mindset. I don't limit myself to material or a framework. People expect you to follow a specific path. But following a singular way also confines you. My art practice reflects who I am and how I have gone through life. Rather than imposing or asserting, I let the material and concept decide the presentation. Letting go of control is very important too.
I understand you are working on a new body of work that focuses on the use of lace — can you share information about it?
The history of lace is fascinating. It was initially manufactured in nunneries in Ireland and brought by British missionaries and nuns to India; nuns would make this specifically for virgin women. There is an inherent idea of misogyny in its making.
I went to a missionary school and college and completed my MBA from one — all three from missionary places. So, when I was in school, lace was always about, you know, beautiful women going for Sunday mass, it's about the church, it's about Christianity. I would see women from all walks of life and all ages. They had these beautiful lace dresses in white during Christmas. And then, of course, lace was brought to Singapore by Indian traders, and lace was brought to the Malay Peninsula by the Portuguese. In the 60s and 70s Malay cinema, lace was a big part of fashion.
What also fascinates me is how lace transformed the fashion industry. Designers like Alexander McQueen use lace to frame a female form. Under the fabrics of lace or chiffon, a form looks sensuous, so lace, like chiffon, stands for sensation as a female form. But again, also a construct of advertising and media. So yeah, I am still determining what shape or form the works will take. But that's my latest material fascination.
Production of Desire - Take #002, The Code of Seduction (video clip), 2021, single-channel video installation
Do you have a few last words you'd like to leave for our readers before we close the interview?
Sure. To me, art is a slow marathon. It's not a sprint. It's not a competition. It's not about having bullet points in your resume. I always tell sometimes it's good to have shows that don't work out. It gives you time to research. And the most fundamental thing I always remind myself of is that the journey is unique — 'Why' I'm doing it's very important. Because that 'why' is different from everybody that is around me. As long as I am clear about my answer, there is direction. When you think about the ecosystem of art, there are set parameters of success and rules on how artists should be validated or recognized and not. Then it tends to get very muddy. But when I push myself to ask 'why' again, that clarity propels me to create.
Gupta received an MA in Fine Arts from LASALLE College of Arts, Singapore, where she received the Winston Oh Travel Research award. Her works have been featured in multiple group exhibitions in Singapore and internationally.
Gupta’s works are in numerous institutional and private collections in Singapore and private collections of Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Hong Kong, and the USA. Gupta is represented by Sullivan + Strumpf.
Shristi Sainani is a curator, designer, researcher, and writer currently based in New Delhi, India, where she functions independently. Her interest lies in dismantling and assessing core concepts of exhibition making, specifically focusing on Contemporary Art churned through the diaspora of the Global South.
She also writes poetry, having published three books in the genre, and has contributed to several art and architectural forums. Her independent research focuses on collections and architecture of private art museums. Shristi's paper on inclusivity in museum spaces won the INSC Researchers Award in 2021.
Kanchana Gupta
@kanchana_gupta
Shristi Sainani
@shristi_sainani
Sullivan+Strumpf
@sullivanstrumpf
Sullivan+Strumpf Singapore
@sullivanstrumpfsg