Radha S. Menon: Touched by Devi

Touched by Devi is a multi-media project and is the first major solo museum exhibition for Hamilton-based artist and playwright Radha S. Menon.  

The exhibition is inspired by her family’s connection to dance. Her mother loved to dance but was never allowed to become a professional dancer, because of the Hindu cultural connection between dance and sex work. When Radha said she wanted to sing, dance, act and attend art school, she was pressured not to and ran away from home at age 16 to become an artist.  

In 2019, Menon travelled deep into rural Karnataka, India—her ancestral country—in search of women who identify as Devadasi. Devadasi, once an honoured practice, birthed India’s great dance forms and allowed high-caste women to resist marital norms through spiritual devotion. However, due to British colonizers who banned this practice, Devadasi women, now exclusively from underprivileged castes, exist as criminalized women artists/sex workers who remain ostracized and open to exploitation.   

This exhibition responds to these complex histories of women in colonized India, expressed through portrait photography, interview text, movement, and sculptural installation. These elements come together as part of an ongoing healing journey for the artist, as she explores the history of women’s rights in India in connection with her family history.