THE DIVINE TENEBROSITY
DECODING KALI
RESEARCH
ILLUSTRATION
PAPER CUT
Kali - is perhaps one of the most dramatic forms in Hindu mythology she is naked with hair unbound standing or sitting on top of shiva. Sickle in hand and a garland of heads around her neck. A blood-stained tongue dipping out. There so many stories related to the tongue of Kali. What is the significance of the tongue? Who is it directed towards? Is it a way to mock us? The speculations are endless.
The image of Kali might seem aggressive and destructive but Kali was not depicted this way since the beginning. In this project, we will look at how Kali’s image has been changed due time and what effect it has on our culture. How her nakedness and unbridle sexuality has shown humans that nature is indifferent to the human gaze. As nature does not have certain rules like human society and it will continue to thrive in its own way until the end of time.
Lajja Gauri- 3rd centuryCE
Unidentified goddess which some believe are the first sculpture of Shakti (Kali)
Kali as the supreme deity
cira 1800
Kali 12th century CE
Kali by raja ravi verma AD 1950
Kali illustration created by Curry Nation
AD 2013
The project focuses on the image of the Goddess throughout ages and to re-illustrate a modern version of the goddess by taking inspiration from the puranic texts explaining her appearance.
The medium chosen is papercut. The idea of destroying paper to give it a new meaning coincides with the ideology of the goddess who destroys to make way to new beginnings.
PROCESS