Meghana Bisineer | Artist Educator

KALI : A THOUSAND NAMES

Ritual/Performance, Film, Tapestry, Objects and Offerings | Winslow House, CA | 2024

KALI : A Thousand Names is a multiform manifestation of queer mystical rituals which took place on site at Winslow House. I was artist in residence here in April 2024. The work took various forms :

Wipe hands with a damp flower (Ritual Action | Film)
Dhyeya (Tapestry)
A Thousand Names (Ritual cups | Performance | Offerings)

The title of this multi-modal project Wipe hands with a damp flower is a ritual instruction; a mantra, drawn from a set of meditations for the ‘Kālī Puja’ - and a prayer to Goddess Kālī, the Goddess of all Nature. Kali holds the beginnings of this project. From her/e, we go outward - and in.

Kāla means darkness. Kālī takes away the darkness. Kālī, who is completely Dark, Unknowable, takes away all the Darkness, yet She, Herself, remains unchanged.. Kāla means time and ī means the cause; Kālī, the Cause of time or She who is beyond time. All existence has its perception in time, and therefore the Cause of Time, She Who is Beyond Time, allows consciousness to perceive....She wears a garland of heads of impure thoughts,..Thus She wears all karma as an ornament.
(Satyananda, Swami Saraswati, Kālī Pūjā, 1998, Pg 11)

A mantra from Kālī Pūjā describes Her - Bearing in Her 10 hands the swords of worship, the discus of time.... And the conch of vibrations, she has 3 eyes and displays ornaments on all her limbs. Shining like a blue light, She has ten faces and feet...
(Satyananda, Swami Saraswati, Kālī Pūjā, 1998, Pg 11)

Kali has a thousand names of which I share two :
#573. chandramukhyanukūlinī She who is the complete collection of the faces of the moon
#567. dhyeyā Of that which does not end
Both these names of the powerful female force resonate with ongoing-ness. The ongoing-ness of cycles of violence we are caught in, of life and death, of human cruelty, of ritual magic, of queer mysticism, of sacred spaces.

DHYEYA : A Tapestry
Mix media tapestry with hand tufted hair, yarn, paint
Winslow House, CA 2024
Loosely based on an undated ancient Indian miniature painting (anonymous artist), this tapestry was hand tufted with yarn and hair. Answering a personal call to more materiality, craft and ritual. In search of a steady frame for the work, I installed it onto an existing scaffolding at Winslow House. Exposed to the changing weather day to day, I worked into the fabric, sized 3.5ft x 3.5 ft. Am image of Kali, sitting on the back of Lord Shiva after slaying the demons. Kali lies at the center of this body of work; as I research the mythologies and their readings, I am inspired from the philosophical interpretations of this powerful female figure; the one beyond death and time.

A Thousand Names
Performance, food & drink offerings, hand pinched rice bowls & ceramic cups
While I read aloud names from the Kali Puja, a book containing her thousand names in Sanskrit, along with their English translations, the audience was invited to an offering of food and drink. The food comprised of hand pinched rice bowls served with kale chutney and edible flowers. The drinks of chaos (buttermilk) and hibiscus tea were served in hand pinched ceramic cups. Fifty ceramic cups were made by me, and fired at a local artists kiln in Vallejo - the handles of each cup loosely inspired from the 50 characters of the Sanskrit alphabet.
Each cup had a Kali name attached to it. The audiences offered these drinks were invited to take in the name, as I read more from the terrace of the house. During the performance, they found a place on the grounds/ garden/ home to tie the name onto.