“TRISHA”
Artist: Vivek Shraya July 12 - August 28, 2018 Ace Hotel Downtown NYC
Curatorial Decision
Specification: Identity Expression and Visibility
Trans, non-binary or gender non-conforming identity is often seen as separate from the biological family. Trans artist, performer and writer Vivek Shraya powerfully forged an intergenerational link with her mother through her photographic series Trisha. The Trisha series pairs vintage family photographs of Shraya’s mother, shortly after her marriage as a young South Asian immigrant living in Canada, with contemporary recreations, placing Shraya herself in her mother’s role. Shraya perfectly nails her mother’s sensual physicality, playful attitude and slight self-consciousness, while also adding some sly contemporary references like a Mariah Carey photograph on top of a television set to the new pictures. Alongside a moving essay that describes Shraya’s desire to know her mother as she appears in these snapshots, before assuming the role of motherhood, Shraya’s series not only portrays a lineage of South Asian femininity, but also the pressure to reject it in order to survive in white cisgender patriarchal society.
Trisha challenges the norm of gender identity and expression which is often trivial — even within the LGBTQ+ community. Through the re-imagining of her mother, Shraya is channeling her inner divine femininity that has trickled down from her mother’s mannerisms. I wanted to include this exhibition to highlight the ideas of memory, beauty, forgiveness, struggle and pain. All of these ideas make contribute to how the artist identifies herself and decides to share her visual recollection of self.
EXHIBITIONS
