Chitra Ganesh

These expressive linocut prints vividly capture the journey of the fictional character Sultana into an imaginary utopia. They are part of a set of 27 images contemporary artist Chitra Ganesh made to illustrate Bengali feminist writer Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain’s 1905 novel. In Ladyland, the dream world Hossain describes, women dominate and rule, a reversal of Indian societal practices. Harnessing the progressive structures and futuristic framework found in the novel, Ganesh reminds us of the power of imaginary worlds as a platform for criticizing the systems and histories that surround us.

–Wai Yee Chiong, curator of Asian art