All is Fair in Magic White

Archana Hande’s multimedia practice explores aspects of Indian society in which local and familial traditions overlap with the milieu of globalism. Her works bring together practices of drawing, storytelling, book making, and video to align oral tales and the narratives of global realities within the same frame. In All is Fair in Magic White, traditional woodblock prints comprise a storyboard for characters and landscapes to reflect the politics, aesthetics, and topography of Mumbai as it aspires to become a global megalopolis of the future. The work’s narrative unfolds in Dharavi, one of the world’s largest slums, revealing contrasts between the growing city’s densely populated streets and its history of deeply­rooted race and class divisions and hierarchies. She expands this satirical narration contending with modernity’s shortcomings in a city struggling with its colonial past in a second series of prints and a scroll, raising questions about power and the roots of cultural and economic inequality in a globalized context. Hande continues to explore these ideas in a stop­motion film that animates her prints and delves into notions of femininity and beauty associated with fair skin. In the film, three upper­class Indian women enjoy extravagant lives in Mumbai until they learn about Dharavi, whereupon they decide to initiate a project to support the region—a protein capsule called “Magic White.” This medication reflects their aspirations of resolving racial issues linked to class by embodying light­skinned­centric thinking and strengthening their femininity. In turn, the video encapsulates contradictions in Indian culture wherein multiple social boundaries and internal colonization continue to coexist.