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British Indian artist’s sculpture in race for Trafalgar Square plinth
Chila Kumari Burman’s work will broadcast Bollywood music to Trafalgar Square
Chila Kumari’s “The Smile You Send Returns to You” artwork / London.gov.uk
British-Indian artist Chila Kumari Burman’s installation has been shortlisted for a public vote to be the next sculpture for Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth.
The fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in central London, is the world's most famous public art commissions. The Mayor of London's culture team along with the Fourth Plinth Commissioning Group, an independent panel of artists, journalists and curators choose the winning artist.
Burman’s art installation, called ‘The Smile You Send Returns to You,’ tells the story of her own experiences, including her father’s migration story. The installation unites “mysticism, imagination, history, and culture,” detailing the story of her father’s migration from India to the UK.
“It is a story of resourcefulness and entrepreneurship, amid the struggle of adapting to a new life elsewhere. A journey that took him from Calcutta’s Dunlop factory, where his magic tricks earnt his transfer overseas, to Liverpool’s Dunlop factory,” said Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s website.
Burman’s work, if selected, would broadcast Bollywood music to the square. The foreground of the installation features the artist’s father’s ice cream van called ‘The Rocket’ which has been a recurring concept throughout her works over the past four decades.
Born in Liverpool, England, in 1957, 67-year-old Burman currently lives and works in London. She has been exploring the “experiences and aesthetics of Asian femininity” through creating across mediums including printmaking, photography, video, and film, since the mid-1980s.
“Challenging stereotypical assumptions of Asian women, my work is informed by popular culture, Bollywood, fashion, found objects, the celebration of femininity; self-portraiture exploring the production of my own sexuality and dynamism; the relationship between popular culture and high art; gender and identity politics,” Burman describes about her work.
Other artworks on the shortlist include the Hornero bird’s nest, a black cat, a bust of a golden woman, a sprouting sweet potato, a modern woman, and a shrouded equestrian statue.
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