Mandakini Devi’s solo exhibition, ‘Fractured and Lensicular,’ opened on November 14, 2024, at Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française de Delhi. Curated by Jyoti A Kathpalia, the exhibition features over thirty works that blend digital media with traditional art forms. Through pieces like lenticular prints, light boxes, and cyanotypes, Devi explores how we perceive identity, time, and history, offering a fresh perspective on these themes by highlighting their complexities and contradictions.
Devi’s work combines diverse influences, from Indian traditions and ancient art to European Renaissance and contemporary street art. The exhibition’s title, ‘Fractured and Lensicular’, reflects the fractured way we experience reality, as Devi’s art layers and distorts images to present a more fragmented, yet deeper, understanding of the self and the world. Her pieces challenge the conventional idea of clear, linear narratives, instead offering a vision where the past and present coexist in visually dynamic ways.
A major theme in Devi’s work is the exploration of identity, particularly gender and personal history. Through her use of digital technology and mixed media, she reflects on how our sense of self is shaped by layers of culture, memory, and experience. As Devi notes, “Genealogies and the autobiographical seem to unconsciously emerge from my visual presentations.” This layering of personal and cultural references invites viewers to reconsider their own perceptions of identity and self-expression.
The exhibition was inaugurated by Andrew Bick, professor of contemporary art at the University of Gloucestershire, who shared his insights into Devi’s innovative use of digital media. “Mandakini Devi’s practice is one of layer and level. At once wayward and underpinned by intellectuality, it flits between social media
posting of daily self-portraits, autobiographical footage, and a repurposing of female Hindu Deities as contemporary avatars. The latter, is of course, a circular reference, returning the current image to its source in the original meaning of the word, but also one that in Devi’s case is driven by an equally circular understanding of material and technique.”
At Galerie Romain Rolland, Alliance Française, 72 KK Birla Lane, Lodhi Garden, Lodhi Estate, till November 27, 11am –7pm