Gods Save the Queen was conceived during TextaQueen’s Asialink residency at Kriti Gallery in Varanasi, India in late 2015. These imaginative self-portraits process their ‘return to Mother India’ as a second-generation emigrant. Allegorically employing animal, spiritual, and other cultural iconography of India, these sensual works unravel experiences of (neo)colonialism, exoticism, as well as expectations of cultural authenticity and connection.

This series with additional work (Retribution, Correspondence) created during a residency at ACME, London was shown at 198 Contemporary Arts + Learning as The Empire’s New Clothes.