‘Nothing Lost in Translation’ by Mithu Sen

An apparent tinge of sarcasm in her work is meant to prompt the viewers to play with ideas and meanings of 'self'. By engaging with the work, they are subconsciously applying ‘my caricatures to their own lives’, Mithu Sen elaborates.

Nature Morte presents her first solo exhibition in Berlin, entitled ‘Nothing Lost in Translation’. A trained painter, Mithu Sen now works in various media, making site and time specific installations with sculpture, video, sound, design and drawings, even dabbling in poetry. Born in 1971 in West Bengal, Mithu Sen earned her BFA and MFA in painting at Santiniketan and studied in Glasgow as well.

She has had residencies in New York, Brazil, China, and Kenya. She has held solo exhibitions at Nature Morte and the British Council in New Delhi, Gallery Chemould in Mumbai, Bose Pacia in New York, Krinzinger Projekte in Vienna, and Suzie Q Projects in Zurich. She lives and works in New Delhi.

Although much of her oeuvre is on paper, her work is conceptual in nature and often interactive. Forming the centerpiece of the exhibition, the series 'Nothing Lost in Translation' is the product of Mithu Sen's residency in Japan in 2008. During this time she made works for the exhibition Emotional Drawing at The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, which then traveled to Kyoto and Seoul.

Drawing from local and popular culture—most noticeably erotic Manga—the series confronts us with visceral representations of bodies fused into hybrid creatures. Blending fact and fiction, Mithu Sen incorporates representations of herself alongside her fantastical creations, complicating conventional representations of the self with humor and charm. Swinging between distance and intimacy, her works deal with the politics of identity, sexuality and gender.