Mithu Sen: A Photo Story
It's hard to compartmentalise Mithu Sen's art. She studied painting at Kala Bhavan, Santiniketan (followed by a visiting postgraduate program at the Glasgow School of Art) and yet started her career as a poet. Since then, her trajectory has featured drawing, sculpture installation, video, poetry and performance art. A part of her practice also uses her body as the medium; she's even explored the materiality of hair, teeth and blood.
Photography: Aditi Tailang | Interview: Sreesha Shetty
Broadly, the idea behind her art, in her words is "to explore and subvert hierarchical codes and rules, with particular reference to the ‘myth’ of sexuality, language, market, and marginalization." To put it simply, the idea is to challenge the societal 'myths'—the same myths that have spawned closed systems of representation and hierarchy. Sen sees her art as an attempt to expose their workings.
Her art—that explores themes of sexuality beyond gender, eroticism, sex and violence—may have shock value, but the idea is to encourage the viewer to challenge the status quo. For instance, one of her early shows titled 'I Hate Pink' delved into the prejudices that she faced owing to her dark complexion. The visceral works of Mithu Sen may either repel you or move you, but they'll always question you.
She has exhibited and performed widely at museums, institutions, galleries and biennales including Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Tate Modern, Queens Museum, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Peabody Essex Museum, Palais De Tokyo, Art Unlimited: Basel, Kochi Muziris Biennale, Meditations Biennale, Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Dhaka Art Summit among others.
Pictured above: Mithu wears our Dani wrap ring, Crater unisex ring and an assortment of Hail pearl choker in silver tone, Miramar big baroque pearl necklaces.
Among the many awards she's won, notable are the Skoda Award for Best Indian Contemporary Art in 2010, the Prudential Eye Award for Contemporary Asian Art in Drawing in 2015 and most recently, Performance Artist of the Year by India Today in 2020.
We recently photographed the multifaceted artist at her studio in New Delhi, where she lives and works. Inspired by Mithu Sen herself, we decided to ditch the usual and explore a new way of presenting the feature. Instead of our question and answer format, we present the mighty-talented Mithu Sen with a photo essay. Sreesha Shetty, founder, Lune introduces the artist and shares, in her words how this very special story came about.
Pictured above: Mithu styles our Schrödinger Crater Hoops, an assortment of irregular Wave pearl necklace, Spine pearl necklace and our Classic big toggle bar necklace.
First impressions
"I first saw Mithu Sen's work at the Chemould Prescott Road art gallery in Mumbai and was instantly intrigued. I knew I had to shoot her in my jewellery. I usually love featuring creative, powerful women—they inspire me and my work. When someone first walks into a room, it's their personality that comes through. I always view my jewellery like a chameleon—it should become you and that’s exactly what happened with Mithu.
When I reached out to her on Instagram, she told me she doesn’t usually do this, but out of respect for someone’s appreciation, she would. She said something else—that her studio is her extension, an artwork by itself. I have not met anyone who valued the viewer, her own workspace and work as much as Mithu. It made me pause for a second and look at my own work with gratitude.”
A creative collaboration
We brought photographer Aditi Tailang on board to shoot Mithu at her studio one afternoon, while also exchanging memories and sentiments. We had sent Mithu some jewellery and she took complete control over the styling and direction of the photos.
The afternoon was spent exchanging anecdotes—Aditi's dad appreciated Mithu's work while Mithu also deeply admired Aditi's dad, the late Sudhir Tailang, a celebrated cartoonist and recipient of the Padma Shri. Mithu shared with me her experience of working with Aditi—she said it was lovely working with her as she's also an artist by virtue of being a photographer. She also mentioned the shoot felt very intimate and emotional.
During our interactions, Mithu confessed to me that she only models for her designer friends like Manish Arora, Abraham and Thakore, Aneeth Arora, Rina Singh, Kallol Dutta, Arjun Saluja and Sonam Dubal to name a few. For the first time, she shot with someone whom she has never met; she decided to go ahead as she was touched by my approach and emotional attachment for art and design. Mithu prefers shoots that have a creative exchange as opposed to the direction coming in one way.
Pictured above: Mithu styles our Homecoming small vase of plenty necklace
Mithu on Lune
Mithu didn't look at my pieces as jewellery but as little sculptures that she could place on her body. “I didn’t wear them as jewellery—they came to me as miniature sculptural objects. I wore the pendants on my hair and placed other pieces on myself, breaking conventions. "I'm usually emotionally involved with the world, be it art or exchange of communication," she said to me. She placed our Vase of plenty pendant necklace on her hand over a spiral tattoo ( the tattoo was created for an art project long time ago ) and over her head with braids ( she learnt to make the braids on her trip to Kenya ) to create a dialogue between them, interpreting the piece in a whole new way.
Mithu described the day as an afternoon of memories and a creative exchange of ideas. She beautifully summed it up with her words, "I was involved in a dialogue with you, the creator of the jewellery in your physical absence but very presence. Wearing jewellery on one's body is a very intimate act—I know what my body wants and what she refuses. Since I hardly accessorise with gold, I was hesitant at the beginning but when I touched the jewellery, I felt a deep intimacy with it."
Mithu described the day as an afternoon of memories and a creative exchange of ideas. She beautifully summed it up with her words, "I was involved in a dialogue with you, the creator of the jewellery in your physical absence but very presence. Wearing jewellery on one's body is a very intimate act—I know what my body wants and what she refuses. Since I hardly accessorise with gold, I was hesitant at the beginning but when I touched the jewellery, I felt a deep intimacy with it."
