November 2006 New York - Bose Pacia Gallery presents Native Women of South India:
Manners and Customs, a photo-performance exhibition by Pushpamala N and Clare Arni, originally conceptualized through an arts collaboration grant from the India Foundation for the Arts in Bangalore, India. The gallery is located at 508 West 26th Street on the 11th Floor, in the Chelsea district of New York City. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 12 to 6 pm and by appointment.
There will be an opening reception with the artist in attendance on Friday, November 10th from 6 to 8 pm. The public is invited.
Pushpamala N. meticulously reconstructs existing portraits of South Indian women in order to deconstruct their generic and stereotypical associations. In assuming the role of archetypal female characters derived from both contemporary and historical sources, Pushpamala N. questions the accuracy of photography as ethnographic documentation. Accepted concepts of ethnicity, enumeration and classification are challenged by recreations steeped in artifice which ultimately subvert the normative or expected anthropological gaze.