TEDx Talk – "Our Need for Creativity"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA6ZtRXi_cM&t=280s

Over a decade ago, as an impressionable young woman in her twenties, I spent some time in Mexico City, where I encountered for the first time, the life and works of Frida Kahlo. I have this distinct memory of walking through her sunlit home with bright blue walls – now a museum frozen in time. The old pieces of traditional Mexican pottery and textiles strewn among her easels, gave me a sense of her deep identification with the many Mexicos past, overlaid with veneers of the present. Through symbolism and experience, her paintings were her revelations – the pain and suffering of her life, lived and recreated.

I didn’t know it then, but it was these moments of connecting deeply with one woman’s quest for self realisation that left an indelible impact. Today, I'm here to share with you my experiences with what has become the Iconic Women Project. A story of creative self expression, mine as well as those of women through time and geographies. A tribute to their unique ways of seeking individuality, and my own profound journey of discovery and transformation.

One day, a couple of years ago, Frida was on my mind as I was going through a particularly difficult phase in my life. I wanted to feel and embody her courage and fighting spirit, and I thought to myself:  I’d like to channel my own inner Frida.  But I want to do it in a way that’s me as well as her….a Frida that is somehow about the both of us. 

Instinctively, I chose a brightly colored heirloom Kanjivaram saree, a Mashru blouse from Ahmedabad, and a string of Ladakhi beads. Frida isn’t Frida without a unibrow. So that was added, and with a few flowers, the look was complete. 

I took a few moments to imbibe her mannerisms, her deep sense of pride in who she was, and her steady, confident gaze at the camera. I asked my husband to take a few pictures and he reluctantly obliged. Almost as soon as I had sent these pictures out into the world, and by that I mean posted it on my Instagram handle, the question that soon came back to me was: What are you planning to do next? 

And so it was, in this in-between space, between spontaneous expression and starting to see the potential of this as a larger body of work, that the Iconic Women Project was first dreamt up. 

I often ask myself: Why did I think of doing this at all? I mean, it was after all just a daydream that could easily have been brushed aside as I went about my day. What was it in me, that felt impelled to embody the qualities of another woman?

To try and answer this, let me take you back to my childhood. My fascination with vintage, with history, with the stories of other people, goes back to my father, a historian with a passionate interest in its impact on our lives today. He would have long, serious discussions on historical characters and eras with my mother, often involving us, or reading aloud to my sister and myself from very heavy books. Something that we as little children found so sedate and boring, that it gave us major giggles. Somewhere though, the enchantment with lives lived and written over, must have remained.

Now, as a designer and art director, I guess I’m picking up those threads and the ingrained love for the stories of people. As a visual person rather than an academic, my approach is one of exploring identity through the unique style of these women, as well as trying to depict what to me is compelling about their truths. Not just by telling their stories, but actually becoming them through re-enactment. This experience of personifying, of creating different avatars of myself, is profoundly empowering. By tapping into the powers of these incredible women, I am creating and recreating my own identity, and by sharing these stories, inviting others to do the same.

The project is organised such that it moves from depictions of women from one walk of life to another. Artists, painters, musicians, leaders, and more to come. A crucial step is the research that goes into each depiction. From reading biographies, to watching documentaries about the era and context of their lives, there is a fine left and right brain balance being strived for. Exploring and taking on their personas while depicting how they presented themselves to the world, while still taking some creative departures. A personal tribute as it were, to their strengths and weaknesses, their frailty or their sheer grit.

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From its inception, there has been a sense of randomness and madness that is sacrosanct to this process. 

Like in this portrait of Mughal Empress Nur Jahan, where whimsical plastic birds replace precious jewels in her headgear. A woman whose contribution is almost unfathomable. Not just to the Mughal Empire at the height of its power and glory, but also to the legacy of architecture, textiles and handicraft that we have inherited today. I like to think of these inspirations as a Rabbit Hole that keeps on giving, and feel the need to protect the spontaneity, lightness and fun that comes with making these pictures. As with any creative project, a freedom to wander, be lost and make mistakes is uncompromisable. It isn’t one with a clearly charted out agenda, but more like a meandering road of fascination and discovery, and the joy that comes from sharing these stories. 

The personalities chosen all have something powerful, irreverent or mysterious about them. Women we are fascinated and inspired by but can’t decode completely. Stories that remain untold, lives that inspire and personas in which we can see glimpses of ourselves.

Are there moments of self doubt? Times when I say to myself that I can’t pull this off? Of course there are, and with each new shoot, there continue to be. With most of these women, I have no physical resemblance at all. Many are from different times and cultures, even different ethnicities. But aside from questions of physicality, there are also doubts about the ability to capture personality, and powerful auras as it were. Will this do justice, and depict this woman in all her glory and uniqueness? The beauty of this process, and perhaps also my greatest fear, is that we have no idea what we are going to get until we actually try it. 

I’m also very fortunate to have found a collaborator in Vijetha Karthik, who has been the makeup artist through this project, bringing into it her own profound understanding of these women and their lives. It’s with this collaboration, where we trust each other’s sensibilities and decisions completely, that a beautiful synergy has come about.

Sure, there have been hits and misses. Some personalities in spite of deep research have remained more elusive than others; some of these women haven’t quite let me in. Behind the scenes, a fair amount of editing is needed. Pictures and textual content that are considered inaccurate or artistically not up to the mark, don’t see the light of day and are never released.

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What I often ask myself is, how is this impacting me? 

Am I just dressing up as someone else, or is this something much deeper? And the answers that are slowly unraveling through this project, indicate strongly that it is as much an internal journey as an external one. As with most performance art, it is a form of embodiment that is powerful and profoundly transformative. It is about forming a connection through storytelling with these women, and everyone who is touched by the project in some form.

On the face if it, each portrait can appear isolated from the other. Disconnected. Self sufficient. But underneath, they are collectively and infinitely the representations of women through the ages. 

There is something in each of these women that is about all of us, that speaks to you and me, and who we are today. It inspires and connects, challenging what notions we might have of ‘otherness’ or ‘us and them’. These and other realms have slowly started to open up through the ongoing process of discovering the stories of women. Their lives, the context in which they lived, and the actions they took to achieve their own personal freedom.

In a project so personal, and close to the heart as this, there starts to develop, almost osmotically, a much deeper appreciation for the work and contributions of other women. 

Take the soul-touching music of MS Subbulakshmi for instance, which invites all of us to slow down and be present, as we listen to the stillness and peace that her voice evokes. 

Or gazing at Yayoi Kusama’s work, while marveling at her ability to single-mindedly create art as a way to deal with constant hallucination, anxiety and neuroses. Almost as if this were her only path to survival, and so the fighter in her has fiercely covered her canvases, rooms, objects and even her clothes in infinite dots.

The beauty and reward of telling stories through creativity, is the conversations they spark. Men and women alike, have responded with remarkable openness and acceptance to the pictures, often conveying with excitement how they relate to certain aspects of a person, or have a new-found appreciation for a certain character. Each person sees in the portraits a tiny reflection of themselves. It is heartening that engagement for this project is very slowly growing, and there is a steady stream of suggestions and requests to depict certain women. Activists, writers, actors, politicians… The list goes on! And so hopefully, will the inspiration that fuels this work.

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As with any other undertaking, it’s the challenges or constraints that sometimes really make it worth doing. 

In this case, many of the costumes and headgear are crafted by hand, sometimes by working late into the night after my son goes to bed, with basic materials like cardboard, glue, fabric and beads. Some bits are made with found objects, or everyday household things taken out of their usual context.

Like in the re-enactment of the Last Queen of Mongolia, where a humble wooden printing block and a brass Pooja bell were used to make the crown of Her Royal Highness!

The costumes are never bought or rented, but instead made and creatively draped, often using sarees to depict the clothes of entirely different cultures. In this way, most of the looks have an experimental, invented feel rather than being a perfectly finished product. Into this mix are thrown quirky little twists, and the outcome is one of playfulness and spontaneity overlaid with research and storytelling that come together to form these narratives.

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And so, gazing at the stone statues of medieval women, or the ceremonial death masks of queens from ancient civilisations, one can’t help but wonder about their lives, how they planned their next move, defied their world to do something audacious, or gave expression to their inner being by creating enduring art or music. Did some of them ever wonder how life would change for women down the centuries or millennia? Did they hope that it would?

Hatshepsut, the powerful female Pharaoh of ancient Egypt, decided to dress and present herself as a man in order to convince her country that she was indeed fit to rule. Little has changed in 3,500 years if Hillary Clinton, as a presidential candidate in 2016, felt the need to ironically remark, “If I want to knock a story off the front page, I just change my hairstyle.” 

And so here we are, still discussing the accepted latitude of women’s appearance, our rights over our own bodies, or agency over how we choose our work or partners. These narratives and debates were around then, and we don’t need to look far to see that they’re still here now. 

We find ourselves in a continuum, part of a chain that links women in another place and time, to women like you and me today.

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And so, having come this far, begs the big question: What Now? Well, the central intention is to keep the integrity of this work, while building on what’s already been done, reaching more people through re-enactment and compelling stories. As it evolves, there are so many possibilities that open up.

A community of people who find inspiration in exploring their own identity  through the stories of others. Connecting with their inner Esmat al Dowleh one day, and Amrita Sher-Gil the next. A space where everyone gets to be who they want to be at that particular point in time.

A platform on which to discover and share for anyone who wants to explore creativity through re-enactment and storytelling. The shape this might take – a book, an exhibition, or a social media handle as it is now – is beautifully open ended and mutable.

Re-enactment art is inherently powerful in its ability to move us. It forms a thread of continuity across people and eras, one that cannot easily be measured and mapped. It calls for the courage to become another, and to allow ourselves to go down that Rabbit Hole of curiosity. Because it is when we are curious that we observe, wanting to take a closer look. We wonder, we empathise, and in a quiet, subliminal way, we connect. We understand, and we see a bit of ourselves in the other, realising that we aren’t so different after all. 

And so it is, with this series of re-enactments of iconic, unforgettable women, that I come face to face with my own strengths and vulnerability. By internalising their attributes, I add facets to my own self, embracing various identities, and by that, infinitely enriching who I am. 

What I’d like to leave you with, is the essence of this journey: a celebration of how we as women choose to express ourselves today in various phases of our lives. An invitation to empower, holding a mirror to our own freedoms, choices and forms of self expression, now and perhaps well into the future.

Thank you!