Nangeli, 2025, Oil & Charcoal on Linen; 24 x 36 inches
Breast Tax — Caste, Gender & the Price of Dignity
In early‑19th‑century Travancore, Mulakkaram (breast tax) forced lower‑caste women to pay simply to reclaim their dignity by covering their breasts. Centering Nangeli’s self-wounding revolt (early-1800s Kerala), the work layers clay breasts, withered banana leaf, turmeric, and coconut coir to show how caste and patriarchy police the female body—and how resistance is etched into skin, memory, and inherited scar tissue.
Not-enoughness travels: Not Brown enough in Delhi, India, not Black enough in Brooklyn, USA, Not White enough in Boston, USA
—same caste code, new ZIP…
Paintings (2024-25)
Molachu Peyyum, 2025, Oil on Linen; 24 x 36 inches
Hope, 2025, Oil on Linen; 36 x 24 inches
Nangeli, 2025, Oil & Charcoal on Linen; 24 x 36 inches
Reclamation; Rebirth , 2025, Oil on Linen; 36 x 24 inches
The Sacred Thread, 2025, Cotton Thread, Oil & Acrylic on Linen; 36 x 24 inches
Strings of Silence; 2025, Watercolor on Paper; 11 x 17 inches
Kali in the Making, 2025, Watercolor on Paper; 11 x 17 inches
The BreastTax (Diptych), 2024, Oil & Charcoal on Linen; 24 x 72 inches
Stop Motion Animation
The Price of Dignity, 2025, Clay, banana leaf, rice, and natural pigments (See More in Installation View)
