Karuppu is the first institutional presentation in the UK by Goa based artist Osheen Siva (she/they). Karuppu [கருப்பு], meaning darkness and shades of black in the Tamil language, brings together drawings, paintings, and tapestries crafted collaboratively with woman artisans in Goa. The artwork for the exhibition, in this Dravidian context, is laden with complex subtexts related to social hierarchy amid the Indian caste system.
Taking inspiration from cultural aesthetics that explore speculative futures and racial identity, including Afrofuturism, Siva’s work uses science fiction, mythology, and religious heritage amidst their love of comic books and the vibrant soul of South India. Siva’s artworks imagine fantastical dreamscapes, whilst reclaiming and reinventing Indian folktales and myths to imagine a decolonised future.
Siva’s work is rooted in both their Dalit and Tamil heritage. The etymology of Dalit is traced to the root dal in Sanskrit which means split, break, crack or crushed.1 Dalits are among India’s most marginalised citizens, condemned to the lowest echelons of society by caste hierarchy. Karuppu carries associations with evil in Hindu mythology and is often used in reference to the lowest caste of ‘untouchables’.2 Siva navigates the complexities of Dalit histories, offering a powerful exploration of identity amid personal and collective resistance, in the pursuit of liberation from local and global oppressions.
Siva’s Dalit Futurism reclaims the word Karuppu, seeking to transform the structures of caste through a narrative of mutation and hybridity. The enigmatically beautiful characters in Siva’s artwork serve as a motif that challenges assignation of social status through established histories. This includes gender fluidity beyond a binary, which champions bodily autonomy through queer feminine power, that can serve to empower all who witness Siva’s artwork in embracing their most authentic self.
Nature is a recurring focus of Siva’s work through explorations of their heritage in the farming communities of Tamil Nadu. Acting as a dual symbol, Siva’s representation of the natural world conveys its fruitfulness whilst not ignoring human trauma associated with labour critiquing social hierarchy, as well as solipsism, related to nature.
Central to the exhibition is the reinvention of Indian mythologies. Siva’s work critiques Hindu scriptures and ancient Sanskrit texts which often perpetuate the discrimination of lower-caste individuals. Deliberately countering the lack of positive imagery associated with Dalit communities, Siva creates depictions of joy and freedom which envision a future beyond these boundaries.
1. Himansu Charan Sadangi, Dalit: The Downtrodden of India (Isha Books: New Delhi, 2008), p.60.
2. Anand Teltumbde, Dalits: Past, Present and Future (Routledge India: New Delhi, 2020), p.2.
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