On Decolonizing Colonial Photographs of Indentured Indian Women in Trinidad—an Interview with the Artist Renluka Maharaj
Jan Christian Bernabe, the gallery director at FLSXT Contemporary, sat down to chat with the interdisciplinary artist Renluka Maharaj about her solo show at the gallery Pelting Mangoes, on view until November 29.
This is your first solo show at FLXST Contemporary and in Chicago. How does it feel returning back to Chicago and having a show here a few years after you completed your M.F.A. at SAIC (The School of the Art Institute of Chicago)?
I was thrilled to get back to Chicago. I have missed this wonderful town and the friends I made in grad school. It was so wonderful for some of them to show up to my opening, I felt so supported.
It’s interesting that you completed your M.F.A. in Photography at SAIC, but the work being shown in Pelting Mangoes shows your skill in painting, and more broadly, working with mixed-media. Have you moved on from photography? What drew you to creating mixed-media artwork?
I studied painting with William T. Williams at Brooklyn College then moved into photography when I got to Colorado. I decided to pursue it further in grad school. I haven’t moved on from it, per se. The camera, for me, is a tool just like paint. I don’t consider myself defined by any medium. For me, the work and ideas dictate the medium. I am not steadfast in thinking that my ideas can only be expressed through a particular medium, like through photography alone. Mixed media opens up possibilities for me, and I find my work with mixed media satisfying and fun. In my photography, one will see many materials that I use to create a scene. I do something similar in my new work and on the photo’s surface, instead of in front of the camera.
I have a fondness for photography found in the historical archives, especially from places outside of the United States. When you told me about your plans for the show, they excited me! I appreciate your use of colonial studio portrait photography in your new body of work. Describe how you discovered Felix Morin’s photographic archive? Who was he and what was he doing taking studio portraits of women of color in Trinidad? How did you feel encountering the portraits for the first time?
My pursuit of archival photography started with a 23andMe DNA test. Through the test, I learned a bit about my ancestors, and I wanted to find a way to talk about their forgotten history. I discovered Morin’s work through Internet searches and readings about indentured women in Trinidad and Tobago. He was a French photographer that had a studio in Port of Spain, the capital at that time. The photographs that he made of these women were exploitative, as they were used to entice Western tourists to the islands, as part of a thriving photographic postcard industry. To be very honest, it made me sick to see these pictures because Morin manipulated the images for his own benefit. It seemed after closer inspection of the photos, that he used the same fabrics to drape them, and some jewelry were repeated as well. I began questioning the motives and context of Morin’s photography practice: Were the women compensated? Did they have any say in how they would be photographed? How did they feel? It angers me just writing about it. Any one of these women could be an ancestor. They were wives, daughters, sisters, and mothers. First and foremost, these women were people and not just objects to satisfy the colonial gaze!
Where did you come up with the title Pelting Mangoes?
I wanted something that would evoke a carefree sentiment or action that people didn’t question thinking or doing. For example, when I lived in Trinidad, we would throw rocks to get to those beautiful mangoes off of trees that were out of our reach. This was an action that we all thought was fun, though we never thought about the violence of our rock-throwing. Morin’s original studio portraits may look and seem benign on the surface, but they are marked by the exploitation of these women. Morin participated in a kind of colonial violence that relied on “Othering” nonwhite people. That’s how colonialism works. Those who benefited from it never had to think about how they participated in colonial violence.
The surfaces of the portraits are so rich with color and most, if not all, are embellished with rhinestones or other found objects. In their current state, they stand in stark contrast to Morin’s original portraits. Yet, you left the women’s faces, body parts, and some parts of the studio environment in their original black-and-white state. It’s like you gave the colonial portraits a redo. The details that you added blow me away. I have a lot of questions about your process. How long did you spend on each portrait? What drew you to re-creating the studio environments in the way that you did? Who or what were your influences? What do you think your artistic process says about you?
I moved slowly and lovingly when working on these portraits. It was important for me to be respectful! I spoke to them and had many moments where I cried when I thought of them being in their positions. Their victimization hurts my soul. So it took many, many weeks for each canvas because it was more than just the physical act of re-imaging their environments. I wanted very much to give each woman a unique look and personality. I left the face and skin as is because I want the viewer to understand that these women were human beings like you and me. Their photographic likeness offers up evidence that they were there, and I wanted viewers to pay attention to them as real people. I guess my influences come from a long history of painting on photography that started in India in the mid-1800s. My artistic process says that I am open to finding and doing whatever it takes to bring an idea to life.
If the women in your portraits could speak, what do you imagine they would say to you about your artistic decisions?
Wow, that's a big question! I would hope they would be pleased with my choices. But I also feel like they would have their own ideas and opinions about their appearances. After all, I suspect, these women in real-life were strong, opinionated, and powerful women — even if they couldn’t so readily express those qualities during their time.
In a very coincidental and perhaps prescient way, your solo show coincided with the 2020 Presidential election. It was a historic outcome for many reasons, but, in particular, Kamala Harris is now our Vice-President-elect. She is the first woman of Indian descent, the first African American woman, and the first woman period that will hold that seat. I couldn’t help but think about your new work when the election was called for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. For many who don’t know, Harris’ middle name is “Devi.” You have a portrait titled Devi, too. Do you have any thoughts about the election and the elevation of Kamala Harris to the second-most powerful political position in the US? (Full disclosure: I cried!)
OMG, I cried as well. Representation is so important, and she embodies that promise and ideal for so many people. She is black, Indian, and Caribbean! To see me through her is so empowering. Her middle name Devi, the all-powerful goddess, is so appropriate for our new VP in the same way my work Devi has this no-nonsense stance as if to say “hurry up and get this over with—I have things to do.” As women of color, we put up with a lot of social and cultural barriers, as it comes with our territory. But at the end of the day, we know where we are going.
Do you think we should reach out to VP-elect Harris or even her sister Maya and tell them about your work? (I’m half-joking, of course)
Yes, why not, we have nothing to lose. 😂
My final question is deliberately broad, but I thought I’d ask you anyway. In what direction(s) do you see your work going in the future?
I will continue working on my interdisciplinary artistic approach using mixed media, photography, and ethnography. I will at some point create a book and perhaps a short documentary.
The show is stunning! Congratulations on the show. Thank you for entrusting the gallery with your work!
Thank you so much, Jan. I appreciate this opportunity and love working with you.
RENLUKA MAHARAJ was born in Trinidad and Tobago. She is a multidisciplinary artist and my work incorporates photography with elements of performance, collage, and painting. Her work seeks to illuminate a people, place, or subject to create narratives that speak to gender, sexuality, religion, and colonial history. She lives and works between Colorado, New York City, and Trinidad. Working with photography, installations, research, and travel, her work which is often autobiographical, investigates themes of history, memory, religion, gender, and how they inform identity. She completed her B.F.A. at the University of Colorado Boulder and her M.F.A. at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
FLXST Contemporary is a contemporary fine arts and photography gallery and an arts incubator in Chicago. It showcases highly-evocative and uncompromising artwork by emerging and mid-career artists; and it supports the creation and exhibition of new artwork across visual mediums. FLXST Contemporary works with and represents mainly diasporic, immigrant artists, LGBTQ-identified artists, and artists of color based in Chicago and in other parts of the country.
On view at FLXST Contemporary in Chicago until November 29, 2020, is the solo show Pelting Mangoes by Renluka Maharaj.
