For Mom, Mama, Anjali, Mansha and myself.
Our worth is not defined by our ability to be a good woman, wife or daughter.

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अच्छी औरत (Good Woman), अच्छी बेटी (Good Daughter) is an exploration of the Indian feminine within my family. Through the use of collage, I re-contextualise my family archive to highlight certain aspects of the image that portray what is seen as ‘feminine’ in my family. I use these collages as a way to also bring to attention how the women would have felt in these images. The materials in the collages are Bindis, Mehndi (Henna) and prayer fabrics. These are all connected to and represent femininity within Indian culture as well as my family. The Bindis and Mehndi are prominent during weddings, the wedding ceremony itself is laced with nuances of how to be a ‘good woman’. The prayer fabric is often bought by women and is used during Karva Chauth, which is “ a one-day festival celebrated annually by married Hindu women in which they observe a fast from sunrise to moonrise and pray for the well-being and longevity of their husbands. The festival is also observed by unmarried women who pray in the hope of securing a desired life partner.”Along with the materials, I also incorporate text.. Both as a way to communicate the feelings of the women in the images, and to also comment on my lack of understanding Hindi. The text is not written in the proper way, and it is meant to depict my yearning for wanting to connect with my cultural identity more. The collages in itself create a pathway to my culture as well as my ancestry. Keeping me in tandem with all the women in my family, keeping me connected with my younger self. I use this body of work to allow us to take up space, allow us to think, to speak, to be. 

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These are scans of the collages.