Holy River — Prune Nourry's performance in Kolkata, August-October 2011
Asia has become the most masculine continent in the world. India, in particular, indicates a continuing preference for boys in society. According to the country’s provisional 2011 Census report released in March 2011, the child sex ratio in India dropped to 914 females against 1,000 males - the lowest since Independence.
On October 6th, Nourry, presented Holy River, a performative sculptural event and the next installment in the Holy Daughters series, which responds specifically to this year’s census.
Holy River took place during Durga Puja, the Hindu festival honoring the goddess Durga, which is traditionally celebrated in Kolkata through the creation—from the clay of the holy Ganges River—of thousands of sculptural images of the goddess and other deities, who are then adorned, processed and ultimately returned to the river from which they were born.
In August of this year, Nourry documented a team of all male artisans from Kolkata’s Kurmatuli potter’s district creating a monumental (18 foot high) hybrid sculpture inspired by the design of her earlier Holy Daughters, yet made from Ganges clay in a traditional style. The craftmen become the artists by interpreting the sculpture in their own way.
This performance have been documented and the film will be presented in New York in May 2012, during the exhibition
Holy River.
Project realized in Kolkata with the collaboration of Abhishek Basu (Calcutta Arts Club)
Many thanks to the whole Lab team (Rachel, Nina, Lea, Eliott, Ashley, Medge, Dan, Melvyn), the Chef Cristian Molina, Lili Chopra, Simon Dove and the FIAF team —
Extract from New York Times article, with the headline:
Art at the Food Cart and in the Park.
By GIA KOURLAS published in New York Times Arts section: September 20, 2011
[Across Fifth Avenue was a food cart, or “The Spermbar,” a witty, disturbing project by the French visual artist Prune Nourry, in which lab technicians took orders from customers who checked off the traits they desired in a sperm donor. Each trait was linked to an ingredient and mixed into a vial by Cristian Molina, the bar chef at Rouge Tomate. Brown eyes meant apple; a college graduate was a splash of club soda. Yes, it’s possible to order a child in pretty much the same manner you choose ingredients for a smoothie.]
online version
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/21/arts