MITHU-ISMS. This suite of drawings by David Mendelsohn pays homage to Bangladeshi/Indian artist, Mithu Sen and her exhibition entitled, mOTHERTONGUE, recently presented at ACCA. Sen subverts narratives around language, identity, cultural losses and colonial domination, searching for a ‘mother tongue’. David’s attraction to Sen is her role as teasing trickster. She reverses the hegemonic gaze through trickery, wit and humour. As a Neuro-diverse artist and someone who experienced brain trauma circa 1988, David’s artistic ability is uniquely his own. He creates his own visual interpretations and unexpected impressions, engaging in a playful banter with the original artwork. It’s wholly understandable that David is attracted to the politics of Sen’s work. As an artist confined to a wheelchair and with neurological challenges, he, too, reverses the gaze, in his case, the able-bodied gaze, simply by his physical presence and that of his wheelchair. Sen’s (un)belonging, un(settlement), (un)becoming, (un)homeliness, those counter-narratives directed to the marginalised, resonate in his raw, quirky and experimental renditions of Sen’s artworks. As a subversive translator, he enjoys Sen’s ‘circumstantial ties of exchange’, his doing and (un)doing with her works.

MITHU-ISMS (2023)

Posca Pen, Estrada Natural Paper, Dibond

60.0cm (H) x 47.0cm