CHANEL NEXUS HALL

Pushpamala N (born 1956) is a multidisciplinary artist based in Bangalore, India. Initially trained as a sculptor, she began creating ‘photo-performances’ and staged tableaux in the mid-1990s, assuming various roles to craft thought-provoking narratives. Her work explores the construction of the feminine as well as the scaffolding of the nation-state.

At CHANEL Nexus Hall in Tokyo, Pushpamala presents Phantom Lady or Kismet, Return of the Phantom Lady, and The Navarasa Suite, which explore archetypal female characters inspired by the ‘Golden Age’ of Indian cinema. Combining tradition, modernity, and irony, she interrogates prevailing attitudes toward gender roles in India. Drawing from mythology, folklore, and popular culture, these works examine how visual language shapes cultural memory and national identity.

Pushpamala’s practice is deeply collaborative, involving a cast of friends, amateurs, and technicians in the meticulous staging of her images. After identifying a ‘ready-made’ image, she reconstructs it in her studio, directing elaborate mise-en-scene that blur the lines between fiction and reality. Props from the backdrops of these productions are often displayed alongside the photographs, highlighting the theatrical nature of her work.
Through her analogue, performative approach, Pushpamala embraces artifice to expose the mechanisms behind representation. Across both exhibitions, her work offers incisive reflections on history, gender, and power, questioning the ways in which images construct collective and personal identities.