SABALA, 1997

SABALA was exhibited as part of Womanifesto I in 1997. Created by co-organiser of Womanifesto, Varsha Nair, this artwork was a representation of the female strength that Womanifesto embodied and a re-grounding of spirituality.

"In Hindu culture there exists a duality in the identity of On the one hand she is “abala” – the weak one as refiected in the Brahmanical law texts of Manu – Manusmriti. On the other he is “SABALA” – the strong one, in the form of a creative force.

According to Manu” in childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to her sons; a woman must never be independent”.

At the same time, other texts and religious rituals recognise that a woman in the fomr of the creative force, is the protector as well as the destroyer. With this “sacred” power, she is the one with the strength, as worshipped in the pre-brahmanical cult where the Mother Goddess is supreme.

I wish to represent this image of fertility, power and nourishment, to endorse a sense of female strength and spirituality which has been mislaid over the ages."

(Artist statement by Varsha Nair)

Womanifesto I - 1997: Voices of Womanifesto, https://www.womanifesto.com/events/womanifesto-1-1997/