RAAGINI PAREEK

I’ve recently started working on a new art collection focused on reviving the ancient idea of the body adorned. In ancient Indian artwork the human body was seen as the pinnacle of beauty. It was something to be admired. Artists painted and carved images of the human body in order to somehow ensnare that beauty within their creations. They would decorate their works with carved and painted ornaments of gold and create the illusion of light muslin covering the soft curves of the bodies. 

 

Due to many years of colonization, the conservative ideologies that now plague India reject the inherent beauty of the raw body even though it is such an important part of our history and culture. These ideologies separate genders and the concept of the purified respect and understanding of what love is. This appreciation and acceptance of the natural is what is missing from modern Indian culture along with many other cultures in the world. Every body is beautiful. Every body has value.

 

This collection is my attempt at embracing that lost culture and art once again. I am striving to reawaken the depiction of the male and female energies first in isolation and then together. It is my way of filling the void between the real world and cultural stigmas. 

 

I’ve decided to share the first two works of the series with you granted it is still a work in progress.