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69 Capel Street, West Melbourne VIC 3003

Open 12pm-5pm, Thursday - Sunday

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KINGS Artist-Run is a wheelchair accessible venue. Unfortunately, there is no wheelchair accessible toilet. Please contact the gallery with any access requirements and we will endeavour to support your visit.
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About

Kings Artist-Run provides a location for contemporary art practice, supporting distinctive experimental projects by artists at all stages of their careers.
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KINGS Artist-Run acknowledges the Wurundjeri and Boonwurrung people of the Kulin Nation as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we operate.

We offer our respect to Elders both past and present and extend this offer to all Australian First Nations people.

Brothers, Fathers and Uncles

Devi Seetharam

11 August 2022–03 September 2022

The purpose of this series is to visually narrate the tales of my culture, the historical context and current realities. As communities move towards gender equality, I draw from my own cultural heritage and its need to recognise the shortcomings in this aspect.

This series reflects a world where men wield the authority to occupy public space, wrapped in their traditional white mundu, a symbol of their purity, that legitimises their self-granted sense of status and privilege. Women in their world are reduced to symbolic figures of beauty and desire. Objects that can be undermined with impunity.

This series is anchored in a vibrant, humid, evergreen landscape that I have omitted and instead portrayed a public space, that is tired, weathered and worn. I’ve depicted the men with dark skin, contrasting their valued beauty standard. The ground is littered with different culturally tied details expressing the passing of time as their dominance weighs on their communities. It is this cultural psyche that I am trying to explore in my work.

My series ‘Brothers, Fathers and Uncles’ illustrates a world where the postures and the remnants at the feet speak louder than the unseen and unheard conversations beyond the frames.

To download this publication please click here.

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  • Devi Seetharam is an artist from Kerala, currently practicing in Bangalore, India. She completed her BFA—Painting from LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore 2011. Before moving back to India in 2021, Devi lived in China, Cambodia, South Africa, India, Switzerland, Thailand, Taiwan, Singapore, Mauritius, UAE and Australia. Primarily a painter, she currently works with acrylic on canvas, using reductive techniques to create grain, texture and form. Thematically, Devi explores her responses as a minority in the spaces she occupies. Devi has recently been shortlisted for the Incinerator and Darebin art prize (Naarm/Melbourne), participated in Lokame Tharavadu (Alappuzha, India) curated by Bose Krishnamachari and her most notable exhibition was as part of a three-person show at Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke in 2020.