Bharti Kher

the long version

Bharti Kher' is a contemporary Indian artist whose work encompasses painting, sculpture and installation. Relocating to New Delhi after studying art in Newcastle, UK, Kher s practice explores cultural misunderstandings and social codes. Hers is an art of dislocation and transience. Likening herself to the well intentioned ethnographer investigating her culture, Kher delivers a forceful reinterpretation of India s present and its history. Following an accidental encounter with a woman wearing a sperm bindi on her forehead, Kher made bindis a central motif in her practice. Bindis swarm over Kher s sculptures and are deployed in vivid chromatic constellations. Arranged en masse, each dot or squiggle can be understood as a person, their placement analogous to demographic movementthe migrations of a population. 'Bharti Kher' focuses on the artist s exploration of identity, aiming to bring together works that speak especially to the perceptions and realities of being female today.00Exhibition: Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada (09.06.-10.10.2016).