Behind The Making of Kali Rising
Conceived, directed and performed by
Gayatri Rathinavelu
In collaboration with photographers and videographers;
Nanna Konggaard Kreutzmann, instagram: nannakreutzmann
Marina Valitova, instagram, marina.camerawoman
Ahmed Hayman, instagram: haymanics
Iiulia Gavrilina, instagram: iuliia_siberianspirits
Portrait by Ahmed Hayman
About Gayatri
Gayatri is an underwater dance artist,
bringing her Indian/Tamil heritage into the underwater element. Creating something genuinely uncharted. A practice that combines embodied storytelling, ancestral knowledge, women’s empowerment and ocean conservation. Growing up between Sweden and India, she has spent her life navigating the space between worlds, and it is from that in between place that her expression and art is born.
She has sailed across the Atlantic, the South Pacific and the Indian Ocean. Those experiences took her through a remarkable outer journey experiencing things she never thought were possible,
but most of all it shaped her inner world in ways beyond geography, expanding her sense of what is possible for herself as a woman and as a woman of colour, deepening the relationship between her,
the water and the stories she carries.Alongside her artistic practice, Gayatri is a social entrepreneur who has dedicated much of her life to building organisations centred on empowering disadvantaged young leaders. She founded
The Good Talents and The Good Tribe, has coached and supported the launch of many social businesses, and was selected as one of Sweden's Top 100 Talents in 2016. The Good Talents was awarded the title of Change Leader by Reach for Change, and received a place in their incubator programme for high-impact social innovators and has received the honourable support from the Swedish Crown Princess Couple’s Foundation.
In Her Own Words
I am rooted in two countries far apart in spirit, mind and culture.
Belonging to both and fully to neither. This paradox gifted me the ability to translate between worlds, of navigating complexity, holding several truths at once, and finding meaning and belonging in the space in between.
Through underwater dance and poetry, I wish to give life to the many stories of courage, community, strength, determination and grace. Of the generations who lived through colonialism, oppression and inequality, and of those who still do.
This work exists because silence was never the answer.
This is a reclaiming of the narrative. To express what was silenced. To make sense of what has felt senseless. And to celebrate the boldness of those who stand in their truth, in a world that seeks to make us forget.
The Themes
WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT
Kali destroys. Shakti creates life. Draupadi refuses. These are stories of strength and resilience, feminine archetypes who hold their ground and they speak both directly to the world we live in today and they remind us of our true essence,
the self that is beyond form.
DECOLONIZATION
To bring these stories into a contemporary fine art context is an act of reclamation. To insist on their beauty, their complexity and their relevance is to push back against the erasure of non-Western traditions.
COLOURISM
Dark-skinned goddesses. Brown bodies underwater. Visible, powerful, present.
Kali Rising makes visible what has been made invisible,
and places it at the centre of the frame.
OCEAN CONSERVATION
Water is not a backdrop, it is a living ecosystem. Every image made underwater is a reminder of what we stand to lose. The ocean holds stories older than humanity.
THE SELF
Beyond our identity and form, there is a part of us that is unchanging and
formless. It is nothing and everything at once. It has always existed and will never cease to exist. To know this, is to know our true essence, the Self. The teachings and stories of Sanatana Dharma guides us back to this realization.
What is coming?
A collection of poetry and fine art series of deities and archetypes of Sanatana Dharma tradition, each brought to life underwater,
on one breath, through dance and image.
Each series tells a story about a specific archetype.
The full collection will be revealed at the Kali Rising exhibition in 2027.
Parts of the series will be released on social media plattforms.
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Follow on: Reach out with requests or collaboration ideas,
both are welcome.
If you wish to explore collaborations,
eg. contributing to the making of Kali Rising or interested in exhibiting the work,
don't hesitate to get in touch.
Thank you for joining the journey to bring Kali Rising to the world.