Chila Burman was born into a Hindhu-Punjabi family living in
Bootle, Liverpool. She is also named Kumari which is Punjabi for princess. Her
father – Bachan Singh – arrived as an immigrant from India in the 1950’s. By
trade he was a tailor but was unable to find work in this specialism and so
bought an ice cream van which he made a business from for over 30 years – it is
this that Burman focusses on in some of her work based on her childhood. She
would help with selling the ice cream with her father and this experience
immersed her in colour and flavour. Burma studied at Southport College of Art
and completed a Batchelor of Fine Art printmaking at Leeds Polytechnic (now Leeds
Metropolitan University) along with extending her studies at Slade School of
Art in London.
From visiting the ‘Beyond Pop’ exhibition at Wolverhampton
Art Gallery, I learnt that her work explores politics, whilst involving her
immediate experiences and family stories. Furthermore, she investigates issues
based on gender, race and the aesthetics of Asian femininity. Her prints made
in the 1980’s uncover racial tensions in the Black uprising in 1981.
Looking at Burman’s most recent work, I have noticed that it
is more vibrant than the previous compositions that she produced in the 1980’s.
Moving onto her current work, Burman challenges the stereotypical assumptions
of Asian women using mediums such as print, collage, paint, sculpture,
photography and mixed media. She does this by collecting everyday materials,
for example, dress accessories, lingerie, bras, bhindis, flowers, hair pieces,
jewellery and makeup. These materials all feature in her work, juxtaposing the
sexual and the everyday and identifying the theme of the culture and lifestyle
surrounding Asian women. Her most recent studies are the ones that I am going
to begin focussing on as the vivid cultural appearance of them appeal to me to
because of the vibrant colours that feature in them.
Sugar Love, 2013, oil paint and bhindis on canvas, 400 x
400cm
In this composition, there is a figure of a lady with her
legs spread that covers the entire right side of the canvas, with her right leg
opening up to the left, reaching over to the left side of the canvas. However,
her body is not painted in a realistic way in terms of colour. Her torso is
nude and her legs are orange, these are solid, block colours and so there isn’t
any tone on the body. The nude colour is quite noticeable as it is the only
colour that is more muted, as opposed to the vivid flashes of red, yellow, blue
and green. It is Burman’s use of colour that first caught my eye when seeing
her work, the vibrant colours are loud and bold which is something that appeals
to me. The blue circles that are on her leg contrast the orange, whereas the
red bhindis are harmonious to the orange. The bhindis are arranged in a way
that gives a sense of dimension, for example, the black underneath the leg
suggests that the left leg is closest to us. The bhindis are arranged in curves
and so the viewers eye is moved around the composition, this creates a movement
around piece. Furthermore, the thickness of the oil paint of the lady adds
texture to the skin, it adds another layer to the canvas as well as the bhindis
and the black text. The text on the composition isn’t arranged in the usual,
horizontal, left-to-right way. The artist’s name runs up the right bottom half
of the lady’s leg, with the rest of her initials on the inner thigh. This could
be suggesting that the lady is representing the artist herself, or this could
be another way of marking and signing her work. The word ‘dominatrix’ spans
from the bottom of her body to the top, slightly covering the head. By definition,
this word means – a dominating woman who controls and hurts her partner during
sex to give pleasure. As Burman focusses on Asian femininity, she could be
trying to expose how Eastern and Western women are the same in terms of sexual
experience. Western women are often sexualised by the media and thought to be
strong independent women, whereas this is not the case for Eastern women. I
believe that Burman is trying to emphasise the difference in how women are
portrayed across the globe, and that Asian women can still be in control and
are desirable, opposing the reserved, enclosed stereotype that the Western
world have of them. In my opinion, this raises an important issue as it
explains how there is such a divide in the opinions of women today. Although it
is essential that all women are individuals there is still a stereotypical
difference between the roles of women in Western and Eastern parts of the
world. For example, Western women are believed to be independent, whereas
Eastern women are seen as having a more domestic role in their families. This composition
highlights that all women are passionate and desirable regarding of their
culture.
However, it is clear that women are often taken advantage
of, especially looking at rape and sexual assault which has been a common theme
recently in the news, regarding Jimmy Saville and also the false accusations
against Cliff Richard. This composition could also be seen as oversexualising
women as that is not a woman’s soul purpose in life. Rape is a common problem in today’s society
and there are many debates around who’s ‘fault’ rape is. Furthermore, one case
that I have been looking at (Jaycee Dugard’s kidnapping) shows that it still
happens, even within the last twenty years, having had two children with her
captor due to being raped. In my personal investigation I want to study the
life revolving around abductions that have occurred within the past thirty
years or so.
However, it is clear that women are often taken advantage
of, especially looking at rape and sexual assault which has been a common theme
recently in the news, regarding Jimmy Saville and also the false accusations
against Cliff Richard. This composition could also be seen as oversexualising
women as that is not a woman’s soul purpose in life. Rape is a common problem in today’s society
and there are many debates around who’s ‘fault’ rape is. Furthermore, one case
that I have been looking at (Jaycee Dugard’s kidnapping) shows that it still
happens, even within the last twenty years, having had two children with her
captor due to being raped. In my personal investigation I want to study the
life revolving around abductions that have occurred within the past thirty
years or so.
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