I wanted to show the juxtaposition between idealism and reality of life for women in india. A Brides Entry into her in laws house, is marked by imprinting her hands onto the house with red pigment. This is to bring luck and happiness to the married couple.

However, In Delhi, 43% of rapes were committed by family and friends, and this is especially prominent within marriages. Yet India has the lowest divorce rate in the world due to culture.

• Uneven terracotta is prominent in the construction of rural houses. I used this to give locational context and show how illiteracy increases the likelihood of rape
  
• The red sindoor is used in all religious ceremonies. The trickling down of red represents death
  
• Framing photos of deceased relatives is a common ritual in Indian households, but it is also representative of how societies primary concern is preserving face
  
• My handprints symbolise my personal experiences with sexual and physical abuse

Process Images

An initial thought in a notebook.

Preliminary Experiments with Sindoor on paper to see if the effect was grasping and bloodlike. Image from Realise Midterm Crits.

First complete mockup of the final result. The base is a masonite board. I tried to achieve a terracotta wash by mixing different paints. The red lead pigment, the paint as well as the frame are all from India. The Crit feedbacks were in sync to what I wanted to achieve. I was suggested to replicate this on a wall, but I wanted to create a wall.

The first base of paint and plaster to create a wall effect on canvas. This cracked and broke off in a couple of hours, the plaster was not strong enough to be layered, let alone handle the weight of a frame.

I tried researching and getting first hand information from my RCA peers as I have never worked with plaster before. Niko was a great help as the base material for most of his works was plaster. He advised me to mix plaster with PVA glue and Paint before applying to canvas, waiting for 12-24 hours between layers and have a minimum depth of 2-4 inches of plaster on top of the canvas for it to hold a wooden frame. I needed to keep it near the heater to make it dry faster, but I didn’t have one so I just had to wait longer.

I followed his instructions and after 6 layers and a lot of cracks later it was stable enough. After applying all these layers I realised that the paint became much lighter and the chalky white texture and colour of the plaster started showing through. Thus, to give it a rich flush of terracotta yet maintain the unevenness of the wall, I sparingly applied acrylic paint on the canvas. Ending with the handprints and then the frame, this is the result.

Blood on Your Hands, 2020; Plaster, Red Sindoor and Wood frame