The fortune teller
By: designed and digitally printed by Malini Gupta
Publisher: Ochre (art + design)
Published: 2015
Place of publication: Portland, Oregon
Language: eng
Number of pages: 17
Subjects: Adult child sexual abuse victims in art; Autobiographical memory in art; Families in art; Sex discrimination against women; Child sexual abuse; Artists' books; Specimens; Cootie catchers
Notes: Title from box lid.

Limited variable edition of 10 copies, signed and numbered by the artist.

"Through this work I seek to investigate the deeply entrenched gender biases that plague the Indian society. It is comprised of two parts: part one is the game of Fortune Teller; part two is my personal childhood story. The Fortune Teller--an unassuming childhood game that predicts your future based on choices you make. As the viewer interacts with this seemingly benign and innocuous game they are confronted by the cold, hard statistics of gender inequality in India. For the second part of the piece, I narrate my first hand experiences of growing up in India. As the reader takes this journey with me from my childhood to teenage years, the deeply entrenched biases come to life. I wanted to give the reader the statistics of gender bias, but also my personal story so the mundane numbers would become real. Growing up in India, the image of my pious mother reading religious Hindu scriptures every day never left me. References to it abound in this piece: the imagery used, the colors, and the layout of the fortuneteller and the smell of incense imbued in the paper. The book itself is bound on top to allude to a sacred Hindu scripture. It is bound using a thread, which, in the Indian culture is traditionally used for religious ceremonies. Because the book is sacred to me. I’ve allowed myself to be deeply vulnerable for this work to resolve my darkest childhood memories. The fortune teller is designed in beautiful patterns to entice the viewer to interact with it but also to camouflage the darkness it holds--the darkness of a child being sexually abused and a family choosing to ignore it" --Artist's Statement at the Vamp & Tramp Booksellers' website, viewed on June 9, 2016.

"The book was bound using the Japanese stab binding method. The paper used was Sandstone. It was waxed to infuse it with the smell of incense"--Colophon.

Sandstone 28lb paper, ironed with wax, is used to create a digitally printed fortune teller game (cootie-catcher structure) and a digitally printed stab-bound book. Also includes a sheet digitally printed with the artist's statement. All are issued in a hinged, red cloth-covered, five-panel box held together with a red cloth-covered lid. Paper title label inset on top of lid. Bibliography sheet attached to interior of bottom panel of box. When the lid is removed, the side panels of the box are released to fall flat, allowing easy access to the contents.

Includes bibliographical references.