“Lumen,” Sutapa Biswas’s first solo show in 14 years, began with Kali. The goddess loomed over viewers at the entrance of Kettle’s Yard in the mixedmedia work Housewives with Steak-Knives (1983–85), holding a machete and wearing the severed heads of men strung on a necklace. At first glance, the image could be understood as the beginning of a bitter rage that permeated the whole show.
Yet Kali’s anger, her slain nemeses include the British Raj and Adolf Hitler, who stand in for authoritarians and colonialism. With a name translating to “black goddess,” Kali’s defiance radiates against the whiteness that surrounds her, a space that recalls Robert Rauschenberg’s (1951). A similar critique of the art world’s Western- and male-centrism can be found in the rough-cut, grainy video (1983–85). Backed by a high-strung soundtrack, the goddess—played by Biswas—strikes out again against structures that dehumanize us, ritualistically destroying Alpen muesli (representing the Nazis and totalitarian rule), Nescafé coffee (international corporate greed and capitalism), and a Heinz can (Andy Warhol and the artistic canon of White men).
