Working Culture
Erina Tamrakar, 2016
Acrylic on canvas
213 x 152 cm

© Erina Tamrakar

Erina Tamrakar’s composition deals with the position of women in patriarchal society. Working Culture, which she also calls Power Women, signifies women’s power through the third eye. Here, her woman is depicted with two large eyes, and a third eye. The third eye sees beyond appearances, and symbolizes a state of enlightenment or the evocation of mental images that have deeply-personal, spiritual or psychological significance. The third eye on the forehead is highly suggestive and symbolic, and is associated with the visionary power of Lord Shiva and Buddha. The third eye on the forehead is the key to understanding this aspect: by placing the third eye on the women’s forehead, the artist shows their power. Whereas society has relegated working women (represented in this painting by the tuk-tuk driver) to the margins of society, defining them as weak, dependent, and secondary, the artist awards them pride of place, presenting them as strong and assertive: drawing on mythology, she claims that women are creators, who care for the world, whereby, as the case may be, she may also become a destructive force. One may well interpret the preeminent themes of Erina Tamrakar’s paintings as statements of self, identity, and gender. These works are at times conscious, and at times unconscious explorations of her own experiences. Tamrakar’s Third Eye series is rooted in her subjects’ femininity, expressed in the use of deep reds. The recurrence of symbols creates a distinct opposition: the introspection of the silent, downcast eyes provides a point of contrast to the dominant gaze of the third eye, depicted as open and red. The aesthetically calm use of texture and colour evokes a sense of pleasure.