There are three tall goddesses standing guard outside Yorkshire Sculpture Park’s Underground Gallery. Created by Bharti Kher for the largest UK museum exhibition of her career, the trio appear as three-dimensional collages, seemingly made of various characters. It’s a startling introduction to Kher’s work, but one which speaks to core ideas in her practice and way of thinking about the world.
The three sculptures started life as clay figurines displayed in Indian homes for the Navaratri festival, representing and celebrating various facets of life. The artist had collected such statuettes over several years, sending them en masse to her Delhi studio only to discover that many had smashed in transit. Instead of jigsawing the broken pieces back together, Kher created new godlike composites in bronze, scaling up and amalgamating the various represented strands of Indian life.
