Inside the cozy, storied walls of Qissa Cafe, a transformation is taking place. For the first time, Delhi-based visual artist Jyotsna Dwivedi brings her traveling exhibition to Kochi, offering a raw and visceral exploration of womanhood, vulnerability, and the reclamation of the self.
Dwivedi was born in Uttar Pradesh and trained in both design and law. For her, art is not merely an aesthetic choice but a necessary response to the societal structures that dictate the female experience.
A striking motif in Dwivedi’s work is the intersection of the female form with vibrant, heavy-petaled flowers, specifically the red Hibiscus. In these works, the flower carries a dual, paradoxical meaning. It initially represents the restrictive beauty standards imposed by society structures that the artist suggests must be dismantled.
Once devoured and assimilated through this process of destruction, the flower is transformed into a sacred offering placed at the feet of Goddess Kali, the deity of destruction.
"I imagine women devouring these flowers, destroying these symbols of beauty and getting rid of them by eating, chewing, digesting and defecating them. So that these symbols get annihilated," Dwivedi explains. "Then we are able to create beauty for ourselves, which is outside the male idea of beauty or the beauty that patriarchy gives us.”
The choice of red is deliberate and multi-layered. The red Hibiscus evokes the Goddess Kali, the deity of destruction, linking the act of painting to a divine, transformative rage. Similarly, she uses balloons to denote the fragility of desire. These objects often engulf the women, representing the tentative and overwhelming way they engage with their own longings and vitality.
Central to the exhibition is a questioning of how a woman is constructed by her environment. Dwivedi argues that women are often forced to comply with external definitions of how to exist in their own skin. Her work seeks a new language to describe the relationship a woman has with herself and with others.
In several pieces, Dwivedi explores themes of sanctuary and refuge. One notable work, which carries a bisexual subtext, emphasizes the vital need for female solidarity. She views these relationships not just as friendships, but as sanctuaries built on empathy, a necessary defense against a world that constantly subjects the female body to the male gaze.
The format of the exhibition is intentionally small. Dwivedi describes these works as intimate paintings, comparing them to small talismans or protective threads worn on the body. Despite their size, the emotional scale is immense.
The artist also introduces the haunting concept of the silent scream. Many of the figures in her series feature open mouths painted in stark black. "It's not always that we protest loudly. We sometimes won't even have words to describe what we actually feel," says Dwivedi. "The idea of these silent screams is that nobody hears them, it's inside ourselves waiting to explode.
Addressing the nudity in her work, Dwivedi is quick to distinguish it from sexualization. For her, a body without clothes is a body without pretense. It is a state of being completely undone and real, allowing for a raw expression of anger, pain, and vulnerability that clothing might mask.
Her subjects are captured in gestures that might appear violent at first glance, but are actually expressions of a new language, fluctuating between a silent scream and a defiant sense of play.
By moving away from patriarchal labels that often brand female expression as hysteric or mad, Dwivedi creates a sanctuary where women can define their own actions and get rid of the societal expectations that stick to the psyche like dirty chewing gum.
The artist describes her creative process as a cauldron where rage, pain, love, and vulnerability boil together to form fantastical worlds. In these works, humanly manufactured things and botanical elements interact in strange, unique ways. Plucked flowers grow tentacles to loosen rigid definitions, and bodies contort to find new ways of being.
Dwivedi questions the very identity of these women, asking if they are a reflection of herself, or if they have walked in from a collective yearning. This collection, which previously debuted at the Lalit Kala Akademi in New Delhi, is an evolving series.
Dwivedi views this Kochi chapter as a progression rather than a conclusion. As she continues to add to this body of work, she challenges every viewer to look past the standards and listen to the silent screams waiting to be heard.