The Open Studio / Nitesh Kushwaha
Nitesh Kushwaha
Golden shower
Five falls of gold hair, each one longer than the last
Five dark red shelves on a white wall.
From each one, gold hangs straight down like hair just washed.
The smallest is a thin tail. The largest is a curtain.
Spotlights press down from the ceiling.
Grey shadows lean across the wall beside the strands.
Nothing moves, yet it all looks like falling.
I want to part it with my fingers.
The work
Nitesh Kushwaha is a sculptor and performance artist. He is a postgraduate of Jamia Millia Islamia and is based in Greater Noida. In Golden shower he works with hair, canvas and threads. Five pieces hang in a row on a white wall. Each has a dark red top. Long golden strands fall from it towards the floor. The pieces grow larger from left to right. For Kushwaha, hair is "a powerful metaphor for identity". Here it hangs loose and heavy. Its shadows stretch across the wall.
In the artist’s words
“My current body of work focuses on hair, both real and synthetic, as a powerful metaphor for identity. Through this medium, I look at gender, ecology and social constructs. I view my practice as a continuous dialogue between material, body and space, where each performance becomes a site of resistance, reflection and renewal.”
- Theme
- Hair and identity
- Material
- Hair, canvas and threads
- Size
- 10 × 365 × 300 cm
- Year
- 2023
- Edition
- 2
- Framed
- Yes
- About the artist
- Jamia millia islamia
- From
- Greater Noida
- Code
- RC-3699
