Asha Ganpat
“Spare the rod, spoil the god”
2007
Individually boxed wooden spoons and bars of soap god’s mom used to punish god

Noelle Lorraine Williams:In what ways does your work manipulate the viewer?
Asha Ganpat:My work manipulates the viewer through (re)assigning new symbolism onto everyday objects. Utilizing wooden cooking spoons and bars of soap to describe years of corporeal punishment inflicted by god’s mom upon god, the objects are empowered. They are no longer useful for anything other than discipline. The spoons represent punishment for action and the soap represents punishment for profanity and sass. The viewer’s thoughts are manipulated, changed, these wooden spoons are solely for punishment.

Noelle Lorraine Williams:In what ways is your work a manipulation of sight and touch?

Asha Ganpat: Sight and touch are not quite manipulated, but memory is. Disciplinary action is a staple of child-rearing. For many unfortunate children, acting out leads to physical castigation. Is there one of us who have not been at least spanked? I intended for this piece to evoke memories of corporeal punishment, for the viewer to consider how much time these 40 objects represent, and hopefully to consider the rituals of child-rearing.

Noelle Lorraine Williams: How do you manipulate the material to rework our understanding of history and contemporary culture?

Asha Ganpat: I love to create relics based on mythologies and fiction. This is my second series of that sort, the first inspired by a sociological text titled “Nacerima” by Horace Miner which is a fictional look at american culture from an outside perspective. That series is a set of votive dolls that the people of Nacerima would use to teach their children about worship. For this sculpture, instead of submitting an artist statement, I simply submitted an old advertisement from Ivory soap which suggested that a soap bath would calm the mother down enough to avoid hitting her children. The moral line between corporeal punishment and abuse changes throughout history and is regularly altered by contemporary culture’s mood.

Noelle Lorraine Williams: How do you create a converation around the manipulation of women’s bodies?

Asha Ganpat:No particular mother of god is specified for this piece. This mother is either harsh and aggressive or has an awful child on her hands.