Suchitra Mattai Guyana, b. 1973

Colonial bed posts frame Suchitra Mattai’s depiction of twin female figures seated back to back in the presence of a Yakshi statue. Supported by an heirloom sari from Mattai’s family and ornamented with decorative trim, the image suggests the coexistence of many perspectives within a single mind. The Yakshi are female nature spirits who are normally considered benevolent guardians, but sometimes behave in rascally ways, teasing, being spiteful, or even destructive. Surrounded by family history, framed by colonial structures, influenced by spirits and myths, the reflecting figures in this image are identical except that they are looking at the world in opposite ways. Mattai’s work is influenced by the sense of exclusion and isolation experienced by members of immigrant communities, and the different sorts of future outcomes to which those feelings can lead.