Artist Linder and fashion designer Ashish will mark their first collaboration with a limited edition triptych for House of Voltaire, created to support Studio Voltaire’s world-renowned artistic and community programmes.
The edition series combines Linder’s signature use of photomontage with Ashish’s famed use of high-octane colour and sequins. Working together has allowed both artists the chance to play, layer and mix mediums whilst exploring the common threads shared in their work, including themes of queering popular culture and celebrating strength in marginalised bodies.
These new editions, collectively titled Three Goddesses of the Silver Screen, feature Indian film stars Zeenat Aman, Parveen Babi and Meena Kumari, each of whom pushed cinematic boundaries in the demanding and often tragic industry in which they worked. In preparation for the edition, the artists researched fashion and lifestyle magazines from the 1960s–80s and were drawn to the colourful advertising and celebrity culture found within their pages. Frequently illustrating a private melancholy
behind the portraits of these powerful women, the publications made clear that fame came at a high personal cost.
As Ashish describes,
Growing up in India in the 80s 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.
The prints are available for from tomorrow Thursday, 27th July 2023 at Studio Voltaire and via houseofvoltaire.org.
About the artists
Linder (b. 1954, Liverpool, UK) is a British artist who is internationally renowned for her photomontages, performances and radical feminism. Linder’s production from the 1970s demonstrates her early interest in gender performativity and the commodification of the body. During this time, she created the iconic cover for the Buzzcocks’ single Orgasm Addict, a photomontage of a female nude whose head has been replaced with a hand-held iron. Linder combines imagery that portrays women’s sexuality and domesticity to openly criticise conventional female roles and representation. She culls these materials from contemporary and vintage hardcore pornography publications, large-scale calendars showing idyllic English gardens, as well as automobile, culinary and fashion magazines.
Linder has exhibited extensively with institutions including Kettle’s Yard; Cambridge (2020); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris (2013); Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2016); MoMA PS1, New York City (2007); and Tate Britain, London (2006). Her work is held in several public collections, including the Arts Council Collection, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; and Tate, London. Linder is represented by Modern Art, dépendance and Blum & Poe.
Ashish (b. 1973, Delhi, India) is a designer whose eponymous London-based fashion label has been going for over 20 years. Synonymous with glamour, maximalist design and painstaking craftsmanship, Ashish is a pioneering voice in the fashion industry whose work challenges stereotypes and foregrounds equitable representation, exploring the role that clothing can play in the politics of optimism and inclusion. Known for working in bold, joyful colours and creating clothes which are hand?embroidered in sequins and beads, Ashish’s designs have been worn by global icons, including Beyonce, Debbie Harry, Hunter Schafer, Rihanna, Charli XCX and Taylor Swift. Ashish is currently subject to a major survey exhibition at William Morris Gallery, London.
