With an overarching interest in the possibilities of visual narratives, Chitra Ganesh draws on Buddhist and Hindu iconography, science fiction, queer theory, comics, Surrealism, Bollywood posters, and video games, combining them with her own visual imagery and drawings to present speculative visions of society in the past, present, and future. Her exhibition at the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum presents a series of recent prints as well as several video animations that exemplify her practice of experimental storytelling.
Thirteen digital prints collectively titled Multiverse Dreaming will be installed in the Museum’s Saligman Family Atrium. Inspired by Amar Chitra Katha (literally Immortal Picture Stories)—a popular comic book series originating in 1960s India including tales of epic myth, folklore, and history of the South Asian subcontinent—Ganesh uses the series as a point of departure, repurposing the comic form to present nonlinear narratives that focus on themes of reflection, regeneration, togetherness, and desire in times of uncertainty. Ganesh’s interweaving of disparate visual idioms, poetic texts, and shape-shifting bodies invites viewers to consider broad utopian possibilities while also tapping into a collective memory for audiences in India and its diaspora that have grown up reading these comics. The project notably centers women, femme bodies, and queer relationships, reorienting traditional narratives around experiences and communities that have been marginalized, historically in her source material as well as in the contemporary art world.
A selection of Ganesh’s animations will be screened in the Museum’s Video Gallery, including her latest animation, Before the War (2021). Described by the artist as “an open-ended narrative of memory, love, and loss,” the visual storytelling, combined with music and lyrics by the singer and songwriter Saul Williams, probes how personal and political conflicts are often intertwined and can be bearers of profound transformation.
This exhibition is generously supported by the Siteman Family Charitable Fund.
It is organized by Meredith Malone, curator.