Playtime in Mughal India
Newsletter 13.2023
Let’s Play
I have an artistic practice that fully embraces neon joy. And I want to invite you into this pleasure garden. Whether one partakes in this colourful happiness via perfume, tea, incense or soap, the main idea is to share an intimate space of fun.
Art and history are so full of vibrant material and yet, their presentation to the public has been made so dry and sterile, they have been drained of their smells and flavours.
Well, as James McHugh, author of Sandalwood and Carrion and guest at our Opening Night (view the recording here) responded, we’re putting the plants and the flowers back in, front and centre under everyone’s noses.
My artist friend Laurelie Rae, an expert on Persian and Mughal patterns, made the added point that for a long time, art history was also drained of its colour. Textbooks with images of art and architecture were broadly published in black and white till the late 1980s. So, let’s put all that colour back!
I have an unwavering love for optimism, retro sci-fi, and for my colleague Nicolas Roth’s Massachusetts-based gardening practice that merges his expertise in Mughal era horticulture with a contemporary understanding of plants, flowers and perfumery. As I have pulled so much from his various published texts and metaphorically “plucked his flowers”, I made him a unique edition Nic in the Bagh Playset in return. This 17 piece set of hand painted pop-ups also comes with synesthesia elements such as the perfumes Outer Space, Banana Leaf, Castoreum & Grapes, and Champaca. And a special tea titled “Emperor jahangir’s vacations in Kashmir, c.1600”.
A small batch of perfume and tea is available for purchase by the way, please reply to this email to enquire.
Here, in this playset, we have some fun. For instance, I have reproduced specific banana trees so prominently painted in 17th and 18th century Rajput paintings and mixed them up with paintings of the same trees currently growing in his garden. Now he has to guess which is which!
The pop-ups of the two rose bushes: are they from his garden or are they from the 18th century Udaipur painting in our exhibition? And what about the glorious clusters of narcissi and iris?
There’s also chaos and danger. As an ever present symbol of mischief, I painted a cute little bunny — but is that bunny a real menace eating up all his flowers and beans or is that a bunny visiting from one 19th century Udaipur painting?
Can you count all the bunnies in this painting? Click image to access details of Maharana Swarup Singh hunting lodge at Haridas ki Magri (1844-1845)
Then there are the turkeys. Are they the ones that visit his garden regularly or are they Emperor Jahangir’s prized pets exploring the present timeline?
Is that a space ship from 1960s Star Trek emerging from a cobalt blue cumulus circa 1650? Or is that me scanning and beaming up all of Nicolas’ plants?
I have updated these images in our Naptime chapter of Bagh-e Hind.
PRESS
Sydney based art critic, Chloe Wolifson wrote our my practice and tracked the arc of Bagh-e Hind in Garland Magazine’s latest issue (and I am so moved and grateful).
Last Newsletter I shared the pdf link to my recent interview in The Irregular Times but a whole page where I discuss gatekeeping and the impact of Hindu right-wing fundamentalism on our culture was missing, so access it here.
Listen to Nicolas and me happily discussing our fun approach to art history on the Art Informant podcast
Explore my practice here: www.litrahbperfumery.com
