Indrani Ashe

Lives and works in Berlin, Germany

Artist statement

YAKSHI, TREE SPIRIT Stone sculptures depicting Yakshi are among the oldest on the subcontinent. They are thought to be forest deities like the river and snake deities, originating before the Vedic texts and written history, when nature was considered divine and matriarchic. Over time these deities were appropriated and integrated as subordinate figures in Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism and continued to reappear in South Asian over a long period of time. In the current popular culture these indigenous spirits have been demonized by the process of Brahmanization. They have become vengeful female ghosts that haunt the forest, often the reincarnation of a Dalit woman who experienced abuse from a high caste. In Yakshi, Tree Spirit, Indrani re- presents the Yakshi as a magical lineage that spans time and space, living amongst humanity without their knowledge. She reimagines the ancient stone in bright colors that are somehow muted, both railing against the calm color palette that denotes high art from a western European perspective, and tamping down the bright colors of a preferred global south aesthetic that would cause her work to be considered garish or outsider art. This color palette represents an aesthetic double consciousness and the artist’s struggle for visibility and legibility in western art contexts. Indrani depicts South Asian women throughout history who grew against the grain of their cultural context as a continuation of the Yakshi lineage: including the proto...

Artwork