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New Project: TriDevi Reimagined

𝐒𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐰𝐚𝐭𝐢- 𝐚𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞. 𝐎𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚 𝐕𝐞𝐞𝐧𝐚, 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐒𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐦. 𝐒𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐞𝐜𝐨-𝐬𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐨-𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐫. 𝐀𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐬 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠. She gave me courage to draw the other Devi’s Lakshmi and Durga-Kali the way they appear to me: dark brown skin, dressed in carribean colors, beautiful curves, daring, in radical solidarity with Palestina- and therefore also with other peoples in the world batteling genocidal violence and injustices. This is me taking my artistic freedom, but more so: sharing a vulnerable process of re-interpreting what spirituality means to me.

🌿What we call art, I see as expression. Saraswati is an amazing musician but in relation to me it totally made sense to manifest her through dance. She is also the goddess of wisdom, and to me art=wisdom. It allows us different ways of knowing and being. And you know what? As someone who says she works as an artivist, art to me is not only a means to justice. Art – or rather expression- is an inherent part of our being. Everybody is an artist cause everybody has expressions. Be it in dance, music, words, painting, cooking, laughter, anger, creation of a protest sign, care for the other, sculpturing,costumes, deep listening to plants and forests,performing on stage, becoming one with the ocean while swimming,filming,photographing or applying Henna. These are expresssions we feel with our bodies, waiting and sometimes bursting to get out.

🌟It’s a form of spirituality that we are thaught to oppress. Because we need to ‘behave’… so many times I had to hear: art is not political. How can it not be? I would say, yes, it’s a means to expose injustices, AND yes simoultaniously it’s our spiritual-self calling out to re-relate to life of Earth and each other. Something so deeply rooted I can not live without. Thank you Saraswati, for reflecting with me on this wisdom.

I asked myself how would Lakshmi look like if we re-interpret Wealth and Prosperity from a socio-ecological justice perspective? What meaning do we give to those terms? Would Lakshmi really be offended and skip blessing my home if I don’t clean it well enough? Does she only bless me with doekoes/ money? Or is there more to her?

This path of questioning started with #storiesofkathak2023 where we created the lecture performance Shakti and started our artistic research about Lakshmi… who is she? While exploring the Tridevi (Saraswati, Parvati and Lakshmi) we had to think most on how to portray Lakshmi. That was so interesting to notice! And the journey still continues.

For this Lakshmi I connected her to my indo-carribean/ surinamese-hindostani background and stories we came to know through our research about social justice. She is formed by the Shakti’s and social justice warrior-sisters I hold to my heart so dearly and are inspired by so much! So… Lakshmi turns out to be so much more than how I initially got to know her. That was from 1 day celebration of Divali. Later on I got to know Divali in India is celebrated for 5 days… it is also a painful realisation how much we have lost during indentured labourship and at the same time, what my ancestors could bring along they did. And that the amalgomation of all of the above is how this Lakshmi came through me. I was obsessed, I HAD to draw her. So here she is, not only to be mine, but to be shared with all of you as my divali gift :). You can download her full image from the Me to You page Me to you and I also added colouring pages.

I really thought that after Carribean Lakshmi I would draw Saraswati, but no. It became navraatri and this amazing powerful Goddess came to me. During an online conference about dance she appeared through amazing Odissi dancer Sade Budhlall from Trinidad and Tobago who created her as a character in solidarity with Palestine during carnaval in Trinidad & Tobago. It immediately resonated with me and Lakshmi I drew with a Keffiyeh. Than it became navraatri, or it was during navraatri, honostly I don’t know because I was sucked into my drawing obsession. I had to start a new job but told them honestly my mind is in a drawing state… really no rest till the drawing is done. For me it is also a way of dealing with the even more increasing destructions on our screens of lives and of life of Earth that I really feel we need more Kaali. She drinks the blood of the evil so it doesn’t get spilled on Earth, on Bhumi, another name for Lakshmi. She is protecting her sister. This is one of my ways to keep relating and hoping for transformations.

You can download the full res in full colour from my website and also the Kaali-colouring page is there. Easy to print out and have a beautiful time colouring during easter 😉