Premium
This is an archive article published on September 10, 2014

Meet Princess Pea whose giant mask leaves people curious

Meet Princess Pea whose signature giant mask leaves people curious at art fairs

mask-main One of Princess Pea’s artworks

It’s similar to meeting a character from a film or a play outside a studio or a theatre. But when one meets Princess Pea in person, the sense of wonder melts into mystery. Who is Princess Pea, we ask as we enter Exhibit320 in Lado Sarai in Delhi for her latest solo “Pecked, Jostled and Teased”. We find a petite 33-year-old woman with big doe eyes, like on her signature mask which she wears to show openings in galleries and art fairs. The Gurgaon-based artist, who broke into the art scene in 2009 with her solo “Supercarlifragilisticexpialidocious” at India Art Fair and is known for carrying off the “living sculpture”, alter-ego named Princess Pea, knows a thing or two about remaining incognito.

Her story is of Everywoman. Being a skinny sibling to a stout one, her narrative is sewn around remarks people have made on the “ideal” weight, skin, and hair. Notions of perfection, self-worth and commercialisation of fashion industry run deep in her discourse and has manifested in her work. Her “Vague” series, for instance, saw digitally manipulated magazine covers that has make-believe paparazzi bombarding the privacy of Princess Pea. “All my work is about me and my surroundings. We (the artist and her sister) were always questioning the idea of perfection. All these issues made me want to step out and say that I am perfect the way I am,” says Princess Pea.

The omnipresent “head” is a result of much labour. “I asked my sister, ‘Why don’t you let me draw you?’ And then I thought, ‘What if I draw my body and her head?’ So it came out as an abstract form of face and big eyes,” says the artist. The name ‘Princess Pea’ emerged from that process. “When crafting the clay head, we would cover it with wet sack. One day, there was a sprout and I thought, this was the answer,” she says. And it had nothing to do with Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale The Princess and the Pea.

Besides collaborating with fashion designer Aneeth Arora for the last year and a half for her Princess Pea costumes, the post graduate in painting from Delhi College of Art, works in an alternate world. Here, her alter-ego lazes against silk bolsters on terraces in Mughal-style miniature paintings, or hangs out with characters and personalities from popular culture —  the boys from American show South Park, Marjane Satrapi’s women, artist Yoko Ono, Draupadi and even the Red Queen. She invites outsiders to be a part of the “Pea Family”. At the India Art Fair 2013 and 2014, for instance, she allowed visitors to fill in a “Pea O Box Friendship Card” where they could write about and draw their alter-egos. The box is placed in the Delhi gallery, while an animated video, titled The Pea Family, of 100 anonymous alter-ego drawings is projected on the wall.

pallavi.pundir@expressindia.com


📣 For more lifestyle news, click here to join our WhatsApp Channel and also follow us on Instagram

Latest Comment
Post Comment
Read Comments
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement