June 2024
Shilo Shiv Suleman
Shristi Sainani chats with Shilo Shiv Suleman about her artistic journey, the divine self, multimedia expression, and transforming national fear into a space for collective imagination.
Shilo Shiv Suleman is an award-winning Indian artist whose work lives and breathes at the intersection of Magical Realism, Art, Nature, Culture, Technology, Feminine Energy and Social Justice. Her work is unapologetically embodied weaving together the sensual and sacred, past and future- through paintings, wearable sculptures, interactive installations and public art interventions. Her practice is an extension of the diverse abundance and sensuality of precolonial India- sometimes reclaimed (and sometimes imagined) but deeply rooted in ceremony, ritual and earth magic.
Shristi Sainani: What were your first memories around art, was there a moment of epiphany where you thought you had found your calling?
Shilo Shiv Suleman: My mother and I both started to paint around the same time. I recall when I was 13 years old, I painted at first to create alternative worlds that I could slip into. My early education took place at the Rishi Valley School, a 19th century boarding school founded by the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti. It had about 140 acres of trees and a beautiful space called The Art Village where we would disappear into the forest and make art. So, a lot of my early memories are of being completely immersed in nature, in between streams flowing while sitting under the base of trees, observing and painting the world as I saw it.
S.S.: What have been some important references throughout your practice? Are there narratives or scapes you keep moving back to, from time to time?
S.S.S.: The first ever reference that comes to mind is when I was in a library. I opened up the diary of Frida Kahlo, and I remember reading love letters the artist wrote to her mentor and husband, Diego Rivera. These were quickly penned in ink, stained with her perfume, full of anguish, devotion, desire, longing, and joy. This was a turn-key moment for me — to recognise how art can be a form of intimate dialogue, not only with a lover but also with oneself.
Reading poetry is also essential to practice. I like immersing myself in the mystic poetry of female saints such as Lalla Yogishwari, Rabia Basr, and all of these women who stood for an essential relationship with God. They broke down and challenged institutions. They used their bodies as a pathway, expressing the self as divine.
Finally, magical realism forms the essence of practice. With all works of art, I see them as deities that have descended upon the earth. I ask myself ‘if the feminine had to come back, in a magnificent form, how would it come back?’
Shilo Shiv Suleman, Fertile, 2019
S.S.: The titles of your works usually have a romantic quality to them — where do they usually stem from?
S.S.S.: There are so many inspirations that tend to seep in. I’m inspired by mythology, folklore, the natural world, by technology and various justice movements that have taken place locally and over the globe. I'm also inspired by love, and my relationships to the other through love.
Its quite a gift to have the ability to turn the invisible world, visible. Please tell us a little about your work, Shankha (2023) presented at the Jio World Festival. What led to the inception of the project? What were some important underlying ideas (in terms of concept and materiality) that you held close while planning its course?
For the work Shankha (2023), I looked closely to research the monuments commissioned by women. For instance, ‘Rani ki Vav’ situated on the banks of the Saraswati river in the town of Patan (Gujarat), was built as a memorial by Rani Udayamati for her husband, the 11th-century king, Bhima I of the Solanki Dynasty. There were also the incredible Mughal gardens of Roshanara Bagh in Delhi constructed by Roshanara Begum. She was the daughter of fifth Mughal emperor of India, Shah Jahan and was known to be a woman of political insight as well as an accomplished poet. Manifestations such as these are phenomenal pieces of architecture. They’re also very sensual, speaking of the erotic feminine. A lot of the sculptures that I am working on right now, have these underlying ideas to almost feel as if descended into the earth from another realm.
Another important aspect to consider while discussing Shankha is the scale. Especially in the case of women artists, we are shrunk to shy away from monumentality. We are often restricted to look at crafts such as embroidery, works that are ornate or miniature painting. Shankha showcases a gigantic, brass cowrie shell in all its glory reminiscent of the feminine, in otherwise masculine architectural entities.
Shilo Shiv Suleman, Shankha, 2023
S.S.: What was the core propeller behind your work Temple (2021)? Did it manifest as you had initially intended - if not, what changed?
S.S.S.: The manifestation of the work Temple comes from a personal place. It was after 12 years that I went back to meet my father who had been estranged. When I found him in Kerala, I also encountered our family temple. I was told it was a sanctuary the family lineage has been caring for generations. At the temple, the Mother Goddess is often invoked through the form of ritual performances and ceremonies. During this time, dancers wear huge wearable gears, which are similar to temples on bodies. These are vessels to call forth the Mother Goddess. I found it quite odd that it was primarily men who performed in the attire, and were allowed to house the Goddess. Women were completely kept away from the ceremonies as performers.
Consequently, I started to develop Temple, which was a sculpture that was essentially a wearable shrine. Through the process of entering into this ritual, I wanted to draw connections to my personal as well as local heritage, while also challenging the limitations that came along with. It served as both expression and inquiry. The sculpture made of brass which weighed about 40 kgs, was a reclamation of the female body as an embodiment of the sacred and creative.
S.S.: You have worked with multiple mediums ranging from sculptures to installations, and even performance. If at all, do you have a preferred medium, what dictates the choice of your mode of expression?
S.S.S.: With my process, I listen quite deeply to myself. I don't see a need to be tied to a specific medium. Whether it's a painting that I've made, a large-scale installation such as Pulse And Bloom (2014) at Burning Man, or whether it's a wearable sculpture. I’m quite present through all of those different pieces of work. Very often as artists, there is a fixation towards a particular medium. However, it is important to understand that as an artist, one needs to have an intimate relationship with one's own spirit. And then the medium, even my body is incidental — a spirit to speak. I allow myself to be quite curious and playful, looking at the medium to ask what it wants to be.
Shilo Shiv Suleman, Temple, 2021
Shilo Shiv Suleman, Pulse and Bloom, 2014
S.S.: Please tell us about your initiative, The Fearless Collective. How did it all begin? What was your dream when it all started? Where do you think it has reached, and what does it still intend to achieve?
S.S.S.: The Fearless Collective began in 2001. It was a time of outrage, catharsis and pain for a lot of Indian women. It was started in response to the powerful protests that shook the country in response to the ‘Nirbhaya’ tragedy. The work of Fearless Collective is to turn up at moments of national fear and trauma to make space for collective imagination, creative thinking and social discourse when we are faced with crisis. Building out the movement of artists to form a frontline for crucial moments of resistance in South Asia such as that of Shaheen Bagh in 2020 and most recently at the Gotagogama protest site in Sri Lanka in June 2022.
Presently, The Fearless Collective is in a very exciting place where we've just registered ourselves as part of the Foundation for the Arts, which has given us a $3 million grant. We ask ourselves how does one build up an institution of art and resistance, and what does institution building look like as a creative practice? We're looking to assemble an army of artists and activists who are willing to turn up at the frontline in different moments of fear. We're creating a task force that is equipped to be able to turn up with love, creativity, beauty, and imagination as a way to transform fear into visions of that safe and sacred future that we want to inhabit.
Shilo Shiv Suleman, Fearless Collective, 2023
S.S.S.: Through the movement, the visibility of communities is incredibly important. When we talk about power, we often talk about gender, race, caste and class, but we don't reflect on visibility. A lot of it is seen in our political propaganda today, those who are most visible are often the ones who are most powerful. The Fearless Collective aims to reclaim visibility as a form of power, use placemaking as a tool to alter the narrative in public spaces around the world.
S.S.: What are you looking towards next - are there specific projects you are looking forward to realising in the near future which you would like to share with the readers?
S.S.S.: My art studio in Jaipur is an open space and we have now started running an art residency there. There's no better way to understand a creative practice than to actually step into it, and create your own pieces of work in the process. Aside from ‘Fearless’ and working on my own personal practice, I am working towards creating more shared spaces for artists to be able to come together and create.
Do you have few last words you’d like to leave for our readers before we close the interview?
S.S.S: My advice to young artists is to be able to create an intuitive relationship between soul and spirit. Everything else follows.
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.
Shristi is a formally trained architect. She completed her Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Sydney and her Master’s degree in Curatorial Studies from the University of Melbourne.