THE H E I R L O O M S SERIES
is a working performance and installation project started in 2018. Each part of this multi-chapter performance has a 1-3 night run in which each evening culminates in a set of songs, bringing the audience to the potent intersection between theatre, performance art, gallery opening and music venue.
HEIRLOOMS I
was the first installation in the HEIRLOOMS series that aimed to unpack the coexistence of isolation and celebration of culture synonymous with the American South Asian immigrant experience. 5 Symbolic "shrines" honoring moments of solitude were created using found objects and childhood ephemera from the late 90s that are specific to the artist's North Indian upbringing. The piece begins with an homage to the artist’s first experiences self-recording with a “cassette choir”, a performance involving the live layering of sound through tape recorders.
HEIRLOOMS I I
Using multi-channel audio, Mishra retells the myth of the princess Draupadi, a key character in the Mahabharata whose story centers on revenge. After her 5 husbands gamble with a warring kingdom and lose her in a game of dice, she is forced to strip publicly to further inflict humiliation. Following the format of “Heirlooms I”, this iteration began with experimental performance and culminated in a set of songs. In reimagining what transpired in this pivotal moment for Draupadi, Ankita raises questions about agency, self-worth, the public vs. private feminine body, and the slippery function of clothing as both protection and provocation.
HEIRLOOMS III
in progress