The Ethnographic Series; from the project 'Native Women of South India: Manners & Customs'

Comprising 45 images, this photo-performance by Pushpamala recounts a multitude of stereotypical characters expected to be found in South India. Building on the colonial practice of documenting the various 'natives' through photography, these images present women in a wide range of roles including a Toda tribal, a nun and a sorceress. Portraying each of the avatars herself, the images created in collaboration with the British photographer Clare Arni over a period of four years required meticulous planning and preparation in order to produce each set and backdrop to perfection. Adopting an aesthetic steeped in the conventions of South Asian cinema, Pushpamala's various series of photographs follow in the wake of Eleanor Antin and Cindy Sherman in their use of self-portraiture as a mechanism for unearthing latent stereotypes and implied typecasting of women. While Pushpamala employs humour and wit in her works, there is also a distinct feeling of cynicism where the artist questions a male dominated society and the roles that women play within it.