Sculptures – Shilo Shiv Suleman

Temple

Through this wearable installation and ritual performance, artist Shilo Shiv Suleman reclaims the female body as a temple- site of worship, worthy of devotion.Platforms such as Sotheby’s have been known to showcase sacred Indian and South Asian art, but rarely are the creators of these works given recognition or value, let alone the ability to harness the resources generated by these auctions. The pieces themselves are taken into collections that don’t honour the ritual traditions of devotion that made them sacred. In India, our ‘objects’ of worship are not kept decorative keepsakes, but are adored, adorned, incanted to and inherited.

“In my ancestral village in Kerala, temples are not just entered into, but ceremonially worn . These wearable shrines serve as a reminder that the sacred exists within our bodies as breath and bone. Our bodies serve as temporary vessels to spirit, and through ritual and performance invoke deity and demon alike. While the guardian deity of this tradition- Bhagwati, is the mother goddess herself, the performers are often men. Women’s bodies have long been cast out of sacred traditions here as being too ‘impure’ to be a channel for the divine.”

‘Temple’ was auctioned at Sotheby’s in 2021 for 57,600$ in the ‘Boundless Space’ exhibition

Shankha

Modern architecture is increasingly stoic and masculine, but slip into the ancient streets of Khajuraho and see eroticism immortal turned into stone, descend into the depths of a stepwell and enter into womb like curves, cross the threshold of a temple and emerge into the garbha Griha. Sacred and traditional architecture in India was not only feminine but dripping with sensuality. The Raat ki Rani vine on the building, or the banyan’s embrace in a courtyard was equally part of the sensory experience as the brick and mortar itself, entwined limbs and hand carved eternal kisses were a common sight to our ancients. How did we forget? How can we remember?

Through Shankha, Shilo Shiv Suleman reclaims the sensuality of India’s architectural past- creating one larger than life brass sculpture of a cowrie shell that acts as an object of worship in the centre of the design fest. Treated like a sacred object, the piece could double down as a contemporary performance piece- with a procession doing a sound consecration at the sculpture everyday symbolic of the human interaction that makes spaces sacred.

The cowrie shell in India was considered a valuable measure of trade and economic sustenance, a charm worn by the Banjara community to ward off dark spirits, and a symbol of feminine emergence , fertility and from the Samudra Manthan. It represents the theme – India and the world, but also stands as a symbol for an unabashed sapphic earth feminine.

Dimensions of the piece: 14ft x 8.23ft, depth 7.2ft

God is a Woman in Love

Through the immersive space which holds the body of work ‘God is a Woman in Love’, multi-media artist Shilo Shiv Suleman tosses and turns like the samudhra manthan, chooses consort, unfolds into eight Ashtanayikas, makes an altar of most intimate.

In ancient India- every god has a love story. In the lake of the mind (mansarovar) ashen blue god and his consort make love into eternity. Parijat turns into a flower for the sake of loving the sun, Lakshmi offers Vishnu a lotus garland after he churns the world for her, and they live forever after in Vaikuntha oceanic.

Indian mythology offers more lovelore to us than any other cosmology. Here love sovereign presides eternal and yet- our loves remain mortal, trying, fickle, confused, abandoned, incomplete like ghosts. The Ashtanayikas in the Natya Shastra are archetypal romantic heroines that repeat themselves across sculpture, classical dance and painting. While their pursuit is always love, the nayikas only exist in relationship to the hero – often deceived, seeking, mourning or waiting for their beloved. What if the nayika sought herself instead of other? What would her world look like?

Comprising large paintings alongside sculptures made in semi-precious stones embedded in brass, the solo space creates a Venusian kingdom of overgrown orchids and comes to the conclusion that the most divine and resplendent form of god is a woman herself.

Intimacies

Inspired by Judy Chicago’s iconic The Dinner Party, Shilo Shiv Suleman creates a magico-realist oceanscape from brass, glass and pearls. Titled Intimacies, this table hosts women from lore, literature and histories from all across the world. Women who need to be given more space, recognition and respect for the stories they create and share.

Through Intimacies, Shilo invites Draupadi, Amrapali, Nur – Jahaan, Laxmi, Lalleshwari and the Buraq to come together. To host them, she has envisioned a pearlescent world – a large brass oyster sits at the center, surrounded by other wonders from the sea. Each guest has a personalised placemat for them, with a smaller, more ornate oyster cast from brass with mother of pearl finishing. In addition, there is also a brass conch shell and an ammonite adorning the tablescape.

In addition to themes from her overarching art practice, Shilo’s personal hosting style also bleeds into this tablescape. Her generosity extends beyond her physical presence as her art practice and her work with the Fearless Collective keep her on the move constantly but her home is always open and inclusive. Intimacies was produced at Altar Art Studio, Shilo’s studio in the 17th century Hawamahal complex in Jaipur