THE ETNOGRAPHIC SERIES (2000-2004)

In the colonial era many traditionally clad women from South India posed in the zenanas, photographic studios run by British women. Following the same tradition, Pushpamala N. had herself photographed by the British woman photographer Claire Arni. She based her poses on classic images from Indian film, photography and painting. Measuring instruments refer to the way in which the British colonialists photographed native women for ethnographic research. In this way the series plays with the notion of persons as museum objects. But more than anything else, THE ETNOGRAPHIC SERIES (2000-2004, from: Native Women of South India, Manners and Customs) is a commentary on the use of photography as an instrument for creating and confirming stereotypes. Pushpamala N. suggests that both the British and the Indians are guilty of this. The former were obsessed with classifying, the latter with forming a national identity.