Holy Daughters
(work in progress)
The appearance of ultrasound scans in the 80's lead to an alarming level of selective abortion to the detriment of girls. Paradoxically, this demographic unevenness results in a deterioration of the condition of Indian women.
The artist chose milk, a symbol of nourishment, as a theme for this new project and thereby established a parallel between the holy cow and the girl. The cow, called «Gau Mata» (Mother Cow), is, due to her milk, a powerful symbol of fertility. A «good mother», according to the principles of many step Indian families, is one who gives birth to a boy. Yet the girl is a vector of fertility, because she may become a mother one day. Thus, as in the case of the sacred cows, «daughters are holy.»
Drawing parallels between the cow, sacred animal and symbol of fertility, and the depreciated condition of women, Prune creates hybrid sculptures between a sacred cow and a girl: the Holy Daughters.
During four days in September, four human size resin sculptures from the series Holy Daughters will be displayed in the streets of New Delhi, in different locations representing the geographic and social diversity of the city.
The meeting and the interaction between the sculptures and the inhabitants of the different neighborhoods will be documented by photographs and video. The dialogues and exchanges with the Indian audience is a significant part of the project as the artist's approach is both artistic and sociological.
