A companion ot Asian Art and Architecture by Rebecca M. Brown & Deborah S. Hutton

Author:Rebecca M. Brown & Deborah S. Hutton
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: art, asian
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 13-4 Amrit and Rabindra Singh, Nyrmala’s Wedding II, 1995–6, poster color, gouache, and gold dust on mountboard, 20 × 30 in (50.8 × 76.2 cm). Artwork

© The Singh Twins, Amrit and Rabindra: www.singhtwins.co.uk.)

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1960s.29 They may also be likened to the American-born Starn Twins (Mike and Doug Starn), who played with the notion of twinning by using mirrored motifs and stereoscopic double formats in their deconstruction of the medium of photography during the 1980s.30 But what distinguishes the Singh Twins from these earlier artists is the way in which racial, cultural, and gender differences play together in their self-representation. I suggest that, somewhat paradoxically, the full enactment of the Singh Twins’ autonomy and agency as individuals – in particular, as young women and minorities in a dominant white society – emerges in their range of self-images as a unity, or as twins. The sisters portray themselves in their work as if on a spectrum of symbiotic likeness and difference, and the

“shifty” portraiture that emerges reveals the role-playing and mimicry that is at stake in the construction of identity itself. At times, for example, as in Nyrmala’s Wedding II (1995–6), they depict themselves as identical yet autonomous (one is painting mehndi, or henna designs, on the bride’s hand, while the other takes a photograph, fig. 13-4). But they remain deeply connected to one another, and through the physical touch of a hand, they are almost like an extension of one another. At other times, as in Les Girls (1993– 4), they are dressed the same, but clearly figured as different individuals, with different mannerisms and personalities, and separate postures in their relationships to others. Still elsewhere, as in the 1998 painting, Follow the Leader, they present us with the riddle of alterity (which one is which?) by showing themselves as exact copies, perfect replicas, precise reproductions of each other: here even the spoon the sisters are holding is cocked in exactly the same position. Significantly, this painting chronicles the twins’ visit to Lugano, Switzerland, for a group exhibition: it shows the twins having a meal outside the exhibition gallery with a number of artists, friends, and curators, with the Swiss town unfolding behind them. It shows, in other words, their public or professional “self ” (the singular is deliberate here), in contrast to their private, more intimate, personal “selves” (in the plural). Finally, in one last picture, titled Our Father (1995), the twins show themselves as mirrored reflections positioned on either side of their father, clearly an affectionate tribute to the man, one that nevertheless excludes their mother from the scene (fig. 13-5). And yet, the presence of the halo signals an exaggeration of sentiment, and reveals the title Our Father as an ironic ploy.

It is this sense of irony and play that makes one feel in the presence of the twins and their artwork that the sisters are winking at

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