Breaking frames: The multilayered world of Mandakini Devi

Light boxes, lenticular prints, cyanotypes, photo books, and film are Mandakini Devi’s chosen mediums for visually exciting and deeply stirring art. Mandakini says that a quote from a documentary film on the artist Mark Rothko resonates deeply with her work: “When I was a young man, being an artist was a lonely process. We had no collectors, no galleries, no critics, and no money… Yet it was a golden age, because we had nothing to lose but everything to gain.” This quote, for her, reflects the processes of understanding canonical modernism of the West and its iconography in the context of Indian art and aesthetics.

Mandakini Devi is a visual artist trained at the Delhi College of Art, and also studied at Nottingham Trent University and London College of Communication. She uses diverse mediums, including photographic lenses, cyanotypes, lenticular prints, light boxes, drawings, photo books, and film, to explore personal spaces and issues of gender, identity, sexuality, and mythology.

Mandakini has exhibited widely in India and abroad. As the daughter of museum curator and academic Alka Pande, creativity runs in her family. She explains, “My colleagues and I were academically trained in Western art and theory, but our reality was different. While our models during life study lessons were Indian – in feature, shape, and colour – our palette was based on Western features and landscapes. It took me consistent study and training to get comfortable with my practice, and of course, there is always room for more learning. My process involved engaging with both Indian and Western concepts. I was creative during school, but the craft of making I discovered only at the gates of the College of Art, or maybe the study of art found me. From my very first lessons in painting, sitting outdoors and observing nature, I felt an inner calm, a voice saying this is what I want to do. Perhaps sit under a tree and think all day long. My only lament is that, at this point, I had little exposure to modern Indian art. Whatever I know now is because of the cultural ethos of my family members and the discourse we began while I was a student.”

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During her undergraduate years, Mandakini began photographing herself and her surroundings. Her friends found it odd that she wasn’t photographing formal landscapes or portraits. Even established photographers she approached were dismissive, barring a few exceptions. Nevertheless, in her mind, the disconnect she felt between her palette and the figure in front of her was tamed by the photographic medium.

Mandakini takes digital and fine art beyond conventional processes into a realm of self-reflexivity and multilayering to denote the fractures behind the constructed image. This approach, termed “Lensicular,” encapsulates an artistic practice that embraces both fragmentation and depth. Her recent exhibition, “Fractured and Lensicular,” illuminates the intersections of fine art, digital lens art, play, and the artist’s existential angst.

Mandakini’s subject matter ranges from Indian traditions and architecture to European Renaissance and street art, creating complex collage-like layers and challenging linear narratives. Indian and Western art traditions combine with pop art and influences of beat poetry, psychedelic intensity, and dark erotica in her artistic oeuvre.

Mandakini employs cyanotypes, a photographic printing process that gives a cyan blueprint. Here, the watercolour paper is coated with a chemical solution that produces the typical cyanotype blue. The digital negative is placed on the coated sheet. Exposure to sunlight changes the colour from yellow-green to dark blue, with covered areas remaining white. After exposure, the paper is rinsed, and as it dries, the blue colour deepens. This blend of analogue and digital techniques creates a dialogue between old and new media, resulting in a hybrid aesthetic. In contemporary art, this medium facilitates artists to reclaim their narratives by choosing what to capture, frame, and reveal. The DIY nature of cyanotypes allows engagement with the materiality of art while embracing imperfections. Additionally, the use of sunlight moves the artist away from the conventional studio setting into the outdoors.

Historically, cyanotypes documented marginalised subjects, bypassing mainstream conventions. Cyanotypes hold political and cultural significance as they offer a unique medium for exploring self-identity and resistance. The blue or cyan colour evokes nostalgia, personal memories, and narratives in Mandakini’s work.

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“I discovered the process of lenticular printing by chance. This medium is particularly used for commercial advertising. It is not actually a fine art medium. It is meant for mass production, commercial uses, and especially for religious icons,” she explains. “I found this medium thanks to Prof Angus Pryor, Head of School, Creative Arts, University of Gloucestershire. I chose to use the lenticular format because, in a way, it’s my ode to television. I’m of a generation that grew up not reading, where your imagination is let loose, but I grew up in a time where television told you how to think, how to be. On television, I see images without a sense of reality. It’s what you are told—what to think, what to see.”

Mandakini’s exhibition reflects her journey as an artist. She perceives her stance as a bridge connecting the private to the public, creating dialogue across gender and culture instead of polarised debates.