Birthmark Series. digital print on archival paper
122 x 91 cm(48 x 36 inch). 2007

–

Birthmark Series. digital print on archival paper
122 x 82 cm(48 x 32 inch). 2007

–

Birthmark Series. digital print on archival paper
122 x 91 cm(48 x 36 inch). 2007

–

Birthmark Series. digital print on archival paper
122 x 91 cm(48 x 36 inch). 2007

–

VIDYA KAMAT explores how we construct memory; memory of self/ nation/state, memories which are private and personal, memories which may be true or at times false. This particular series is called “Birth.Marks” and deals with memories that are culture specific and given to you at the time of your birth, and may or may not fade away with time.

I have tried to show how these cultural memories get embedded in to your skin like a birthmark or a tattoo. Skin is the largest organ of the body and also the site where we unwittingly “tattoo” cultural differences and similarities.

Alongside this insight, the centrality of not only the female body but the artist’s body, the use of appropriated imagery and the correlation of image and text links KAMAT to artists who have been variously informed by and informed feminist theory. At issue is the cultural construction of the female body and notions of femininity. CINDY SHERMAN and BARBARA KRUGER are two references.

VIDYA KAMAT lives and works in Mumbai