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courtesy of artist and Kavi Gupta gallery
![Suchitra Mattai, the awakening, 2023](https://artlogic-res.cloudinary.com/w_1600,h_1600,c_limit,f_auto,fl_lossy,q_auto/artlogicstorage/kavigupta/images/view/321d2a605843be151b750df06df1780cj/kaviguptagallery-suchitra-mattai-the-awakening-2023.jpg)
Suchitra Mattai Guyana, b. 1973
the awakening, 2023
Embroidery floss, beads, bindi, vintage brooch, and toy lamb on found needlepoint
17 x 13 1/4 in
43.2 x 33.7 cm
43.2 x 33.7 cm
8798
In this work, Suchitra Mattai practiced what she refers to as “a form of brown restoration,” embroidering an Indo-Caribbean child over the top of a needlepoint depicting a white, European...
In this work, Suchitra Mattai practiced what she refers to as “a form of brown restoration,” embroidering an Indo-Caribbean child over the top of a needlepoint depicting a white, European child watching over a lamb. Mattai added a bindi to the head of the child and attached a toy lamb and found, vintage broach to the surface of the work, lending the child a mythic sense of feminine power. “It becomes this intimate moment of this child and her animals,” Mattai says. “She becomes folkloric.” 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.”