RAKINI DEVI

My work can be described as intercultural hybrid performance art, integrating my knowledge of Indian Classical Dance and my visual arts practice. My inquiry into the female body as symbol, using sacred Hindu iconography as protest against misogynist atrocities are illustrated in my performance installations: The Female Pope (Sydney, New York, Sweden), The Widow, The Two Madonnas (Mexico 2014, Kolkata 2019), Kali Madonna, The Black Madonna and Urban Kali.
I completed a DCA (Doctor of Creative Arts, UOW) in 2018, presenting my exegesis, Urban Kali, From Sacred Dance to Secular Performance.
In 2019, I presented performance installations at the Lock Up, Newcastle, and at Artbar, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. I continue my research-based practice in dance, visual arts and academic writing.
In 2020 I undertook a residency at The Rex Cramphorn Studios, Sydney University Performance Studies, to develop concepts for a multidisciplinary art exhibition, which is now scheduled to open at Articulate Project Space, Sydney, in March 2021, titled Inhabiting Erasures: Making visible the absent (female) body.