Rekha Ramachandran: Mythmaking

Mythmaking is a body of work in progress, exploring Rekha Ramachandran own experiences and identity as a women of mixed heritage. It is part of a larger continuum of work in which she attempts to better understand her own identity and relationship to her English, Scottish and Indian origins.

Within this series, Rekha uses imagery to piece together the stories that she has been told, and the memories she has of the paternal, Indian side of my family. Through the processes of remembering and interpreting, the line becomes blurred between what is real and what is invented. I become the mythmaker, exaggerating truths and filling in memories where there are none to be had. Creating an interplay between self-portraiture, family photographs, sculptural forms and symbolism, Mythmaking speaks to the dualities and ambiguities involved in the search of identity.

The work will be installed in the vitrines at the Doris McCarthy Gallery (University of Toronto Scarborough) from 24 May – 19 Aug 2012.

Rekha Ramachandran is a photo-based artist. She received a BFA from Ryerson University in 2009. She currently resides in her hometown of Winnipeg. Rekha plans to commence an M.A. in the Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture at York and Ryerson Universities in the fall of 2012.

My photo-based work engages with themes of identity, with an exploration and experience of the body, and with a study of the human condition. My work often includes elements of performance and is experimental in nature. I am interested in the relationship between between subject and creator, and often use self portraiture as a means of investigation. Inspired by the play between light, space, time and form, and the transformative power of these elements combined, my work speaks to the intimate yet universal moments that both connect and separate us as human beings.