THE BRITISH artist Linder Sterling (known as Linder) has collaborated with Ashish Gupta – the India-born, London-based fashion designer who is also referred to as Ashish – to create a series of limited-edition prints, Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen, to support the south London art space and project the House of Voltaire.
Image from Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen by Linder and Ashish for Studio Voltaire
Celebrated for her striking and provocative photomontages and performance with a radical feminist approach, Linder has been making art since the 1970s. While Ashish’s wildly glamourous designs combine bold colour, hand embroidery – and sequins, lots of sequins – along with Western and Eastern influences. Both are pioneers in their creative fields.
The images they have made for House of Voltaire bring together Linder’s expertise in photomontage along with Ashish’s brilliant use of colour.
Image from Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen by Linder and Ashish for Studio Voltaire
Working together like this has allowed “both artists the chance to play, layer and mix mediums while exploring the common threads shared in their work”. This includes themes the artists observe of “queering popular culture and celebrating strength in marginalised bodies”.
Image from Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen by Linder and Ashish for Studio Voltaire
Their collection, Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen, features the Indian film stars Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi and Meena Kumari. All three actors are known for challenging cinematic boundaries in the industry in which they worked – often at a high personal cost.
To prepare to make these images, Linder and Ashish studied extensively a wide range of fashion and lifestyle magazines published in India from the 1960s–80s – observing that “Their images illustrate a melancholy behind the portraits of these powerful women”.
Ashish comments: “Growing up in India in the 1980s and ’90s, there weren’t a lot of icons for the queer community, which in itself wasn’t very visible – but perhaps we instinctively recognised a little of ourselves in these defiant, glamorous women who fought for recognition and happiness, despite the odds.”
by Caroline Simpson
The prints will be available for purchase from July 27, 2023 at Studio Voltaire and House of Voltaire Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen, 2023, giclee with silkscreen varnish in an edition of 15 (26 x 20 cm) are on sale from £650 for triptych and from £280 each.