Cassette 7: Sree Chitra Art Gallery (1979)

**'Reflections' exhibition** in the Sree Chitra Art Gallery, Thiruvananthapuram. Introduction by Clarissa Nair, gallery director.

> *"She gives the impression, somehow, that she is sneaking into the background of your life, to wreak havoc without ever being noticed. Her countenance is distorted and wry. She looks like a person who likes to hide in kitchen cupboards. You can see her. Do you agree?"*
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The exhibition includes work from a range of highly-regarded contemporary artists, including Claudia Atieno, Roimata Mangakāhia, and Vanessa Nguyen. Although the exhibit features two of Roimata's works, only one is heard from, likewise with Claudia and Vanessa.

Roimata begins by talking about reflections as a general theme of humanity, mentioning the tale of Narcissus. She says we anthropamorphise anything in order to recognise something of ourselves inside it, including the stars, trees, and animals. This makes our interpretations of those reflections biased and subjective to the point of being unreliable. Roimata says that the listener is under no obligation to think about these things while viewing the exhibition - they are supposed to enjoy their visit, after all.

## 'Women Alone' by Vanessa Nguyen

Roimata believes that Ngyuen deserved much more acclaim for her work than she got, and attributes this to one or two harsh critics that described her work as derivitave at the beginning of her career. She believes shedding some more light on her work - such as this piece - might help remedy that.

The painting depicts a group of three dark-haired women who resemble each other around a pool of water. The sky is bleak, and the trees bare, but the women appear happy and comfortable. The woman in the centre has her eyes closed, peaceful. Their reflections in the pool are starkly different, and eliminates most of the resemblance between the women. The woman on the left has become tall and imposing, with silver hair, a haggard and haughty face, and accusing eyes. Opposite her (presumably the right, although Roimata does say "left" here again) the woman has been made dull and grey, with an unfocused gaze and faded brown hair, seeming absent. Finally, the woman in the middle seems to have changed the least, but her eyes are wide and bright red, creating a manic look.

The two images, reflection and real, seem to blur together because of the wide strokes of paint, so that you could easily mistake one for the other on a casual glance. Roimata invites the listener to look at the painting carefully, and mentions that when she first saw it, she had mistaken it for a copy of a painting she had seen before, many times, but says that 'Women Alone' was painted much too long ago for that to be the case.

## 'Self Portrait' by Roimata Mangakāhia

Roimata confesses it is difficult to talk about her own work, especially when it is a self-portrait. She says that a self-portrait is inherently introspective, and not necessarily meant to explain or communicate anything to an outside viewer.

She started the painting while staying at the Cornwall house, in the small room at the top of the house where she stayed. The room was home to a small mirror, which is shown partically reflecting Roimata's face, as if she has just glanced up and caught sight of her face casually. This is an illusion - in reality she studied her face and chose the composition carefully.

Over her shoulder, some of the room is visible. She points out the haphazardly-made bed, a chair which she has hung her coat on, and a window. Out of the window, on the grass at the edge of the cliffs bordering the island, there is an indistinct figure waiting to jump.

> *More about this painting in Cassette #10: Karikari Contemporary Gallery (1986)*
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## 'The Three Sisters' by Claudia Atieno

This painting was one of Claudia's most successful in the middle of her career, and was presumed at the time to be inspired by Shakespeare's *Macbeth*, depicting three alike women and their distorted, unmatching reflections. Atieno used wide strokes, with each figure flowing into the next.

The three women are alike and appear comfortable and happy in their barren surroundings. They each have long, black wavy hair, and the one in the middle has her eyes closed while they all smile softly. One of the reflected women on the outside's reflection has grown tall and gaunt, her ripple-distorted reflection full of malice and rage, and her silver hair is tangled. Opposite her, the woman's reflection is small and wisened, appearing cunning, as if she plans to sneak into the background of your life. The woman in the middle appears mostly unchanged and still smiles slightly, but her eyes are widened and irises and blidning red.

Roimata reveals that she personally loaned 'Women Alone' to the Sree Chitra for the exhibit, and encourages the listener to revisit it. She expresses how it feels to suddenly lose a sense of admiration and awe towards somebody. Vanessa Nguyen's career was ruined by the accusation that she had plagiarised 'Women Alone' from Atieno's 'The Three Sisters', but Roimata claims that she saw an unfinished version of 'Women Alone' in Nguyen's studio in 1963 while 'The Three Sisters' premiered in 1967. Additionally, she recalled that Vanessa had told her Claudia had attended an exhibition of hers and asked what else she was working on. Starstruck, Vanessa had described the concept for 'Women Alone' and Claudia had praised the idea, saying Vanessa was just the person to paint it.

However, she said that she did not like the title, and that "in art, framing is all." Roimata believes that rather than meaning the title sets the tone for the viewer, she had literally meant that "framing" as in "getting it on the wall" and out into the world first was what Claudia prioritised. When Nguyen's painting was shown at a private exhibition in London, Alfra Bond criticised it heavily in *The Times*, calling her a plagiarist, although she condeeded that she liked Nguyen's version better.

Roimata had bought the painting from Vanessa two years prior to this recording, and says she knows the truth of the painting and the woman with the red eyes. She reminds the reader again to go and look again at 'Women Alone'.