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Artworks
Open a larger version of the following image in a popup:courtesy of artist and Kavi Gupta gallery
Suchitra Mattai Guyana, b. 1973
a welcome sight (in the afternoon light), 2022Acrylic, embroidery floss, beads, trim, and appliqué on stretched fabric32 x 24 in
81.3 x 61 cm8792Like many of Suchitra Mattai’s images, this scene unfolds within a space that seems folkloric, or mythic. The glowing, idyllic looking world into which these two children are running is...Like many of Suchitra Mattai’s images, this scene unfolds within a space that seems folkloric, or mythic. The glowing, idyllic looking world into which these two children are running is based on a painting of a supposed tropical paradise by the Hudson River School artist Albert Bierstadt. Matai is thinking about what is considered tropical, and who, in art history, has been responsible for establishing the visual tropes associated with that part of the world, and also who is responsible for instituting the visual tropes we now associate with images of paradise. Through embroidery and painting, Mattai empowers new perspectives on inherited visions. “I have two sons, so it's autobiographical in a way,” says Mattai. This piece belongs to a series Mattai debuted in 2023, memorializing super heroines as embodiments of feminine empowerment. A lot of these works celebrate the power of women, while simultaneously reimagining colonial narratives. “These elements are tied together, so I find it hard to extricate them,” says Mattai. “The wonder of art is that it doesn’t have to be one element. Stories are complex. I want to portray that in the works.”1of 4