Chhavi (meaning- reflection), is a self-portrait series attempting to recreate the images taken of my mother on her wedding day in 1993.
Growing up I always dismissed my South Indian culture. So whenever my mother’s friends or relatives told me “you look exactly like your mom”, I never saw the resemblance, it’s almost as if I didn’t want to see it.
It was very recently that as an artist I started exploring the deep and vibrant culture that I am a part of and this led me to my parent’s almost 30-year-old wedding album.
As I was going through the pictures taken of my mother for the 100th time, for the first time, I saw those photos from a different perspective, I saw a glimpse of me and that was when I knew, I had to make something out of it.
Thus came the idea of Chhavi- a self-portrait photo series acknowledging/appreciating my South Indian heritage and honouring my very beautiful mother.
