Artist Kanchana Gupta on the male gaze: "I hated that image, but I compared myself to it"

“I grew up in India, and as a young woman in the 80s and 90s, the dominant form of media was cinema. And in Indian cinema, there’s this archetype, this dominant image of how a desirable Indian woman should be: To have long, flowing hair, to have a sari that touches your skin in just the right way. I knew that image was a symbol of the patriarchy, that it was just created for the male fantasy and gaze, and I hated it, but still, I ended up comparing myself to it. I grew up with a sense of inadequacy because I was not that woman.

I’ve questioned this image in several of my works. In 2020, I did ‘Production of Desire’, a performance work where I wore a red sari, traditional jewellery, and a long wig; my head was shaven. And my gaze in the film was very challenging — I was always looking directly at the camera, confronting it. I was making a statement: That these images are all constructs. I wanted to subvert the image of a traditionally desirable woman, because I’m not supposed to be doing that: I’m a 47-year-old woman, I have greying hair, I’m a mother and wife — the role of a ‘desirable woman’ was not meant for me. But I’m stepping into that role and reclaiming it in my own way, and in doing so, I’m altering these definitions of femininity and desirability.”

Photography Lavender Chang

Styling Gregory Woo