Intersecting theory and embodiment, text slides and melts across the moving landscape of female skin, simultaneously labeling and evading graspable descriptions. The work’s mysterious, sensual imagery ponders the conflicted legacy of India’s courtesan through the literal and imagined inscription of postcolonial theory on her eroticized and yet vulnerable body.

concept, choreography, performance: Cynthia Ling Lee
director, photography, editing: Sangita Shresthova
text: Sumita Chakravarty’s National Identity in Indian Popular Cinema, 1947-1987
music composition: Loren Nerell
production support: Carol McDowell