Curator Stephen Pinson discusses Manjari Sharma’s series “Darshan” in his essay for Tasveer Journal:
Sharma’s darshan, of course, is instigated by photography, a medium not typically associated with divine representation (even the goddess depicted in the image with Roop Kanwar is painted into the scene). This explains why, at first sight, Sharma’s creations are so disarming. They are hard to pin down because they don’t fit neatly into common pictorial categories. The images seem both real and not real—Sharma has referred to them as unreal moments fashioned from concrete reality. At the same time, careful inspection reveals certain details (the cotton-like clouds surrounding Lord Brahma; visible brushstrokes on some of the painted scenery) that belie pure digital fabrication. As Malcolm Daniel has stated, the “images hover between the traditional art they reference and something wholly inventive, between constructed fiction and ‘straight’ photography, and between sincere spiritual expression and kitsch.”
Browse the series “Darshan” at ClampArt
Browse all of Manjari Sharma’s work at ClampArt