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All Outputs (38)

Cultural responses to face coverings: South Asian women's perspectives (2023)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2023). Cultural responses to face coverings: South Asian women's perspectives. Journal of Contemporary Religion, 38(3), 553--562. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537903.2023.2246749

This research note conveys the views of three women with South Asian backgrounds on face coverings which became mandatory in certain places in the UK during Covid-19. All three women made connections between wearing face coverings and the practice of... Read More about Cultural responses to face coverings: South Asian women's perspectives.

Decolonizing art and design: Rethinking critical and contextual studies (2022)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2022). Decolonizing art and design: Rethinking critical and contextual studies. Art & the Public Sphere, 11, 55--60. https://doi.org/10.1386/aps_00068_1

The history of art, more accurately described as the history of western art, has been premised on a history of cultural imperialism that privileges certain tradi-tions and ideologies over others. The decline of the discipline within the academy in re... Read More about Decolonizing art and design: Rethinking critical and contextual studies.

Cultural appropriation: What it is and why it matters? (2021)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2021). Cultural appropriation: What it is and why it matters?. Sociology Compass, 15(10), Article e12923. https://doi.org/10.1111/soc4.12923

Cultural appropriation is a highly contested subject within the media and society more broadly, often provoking moral outrage. It is receiving increasing interest within the academy and the last 20 years have seen the publication of a number of impor... Read More about Cultural appropriation: What it is and why it matters?.

Debasing the Deity: The Material Culture of Hinduism (2020)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2020). Debasing the Deity: The Material Culture of Hinduism. Religion and the Arts, 24(5), 588-603. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685292-02405006

This article considers cases in the media of the cultural appropriation of Hindu symbols by Western fashion designers. Hinduism has a rich tradition of visual and material culture and designers are attracted to the aesthetic and symbolism of Hindu im... Read More about Debasing the Deity: The Material Culture of Hinduism.

Seeing-as: The Modality of Looking in Bacon's Portraiture (2020)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2020). Seeing-as: The Modality of Looking in Bacon's Portraiture. Visual culture in Britain, 21(3), 296--309. https://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2020.1860340

This article examines Francis Bacon{\textquoteright}s treatment of portraits of sitters who were close to him–a closeness that is seen in the intimacy of their portrayals. Bacon cut through the surface to capture the energy of a person. This study ar... Read More about Seeing-as: The Modality of Looking in Bacon's Portraiture.

Whose history is it anyway? The case of Exhibit B (2018)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2018). Whose history is it anyway? The case of Exhibit B. Journal for Cultural Research, 22, 27--38. https://doi.org/10.1080/14797585.2018.1426476

In 2014, Brett Bailey{\textquoteright}s Exhibit B site-specific installation created a media storm and protests throughout Europe. One such protest was in London, leading to the cancellation of his show at the Barbican. Consternation caused by art wo... Read More about Whose history is it anyway? The case of Exhibit B.

On Diaspora: In search of the holy (2018)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2018). On Diaspora: In search of the holy. Performance Research, 23, 279--282

This piece of creative writing tells the story of a young man{\textquoteright}s desire to express his religious devotion. As a second-generation South Asian migrant he opposes England, the country he grew up in, with India, his motherland, seeing the... Read More about On Diaspora: In search of the holy.

Frames of meaning: the space-frame in Bacon (2017)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2017). Frames of meaning: the space-frame in Bacon. Interiors, 8, 73--85. https://doi.org/10.1080/20419112.2017.1374025

A common motif in Francis Bacon{\textquoteright}s work is the use of a space-frame that is typically a three-dimensional structuring device mapped around a whole or partial figure. Each iteration differs with respect to the form it takes, materiality... Read More about Frames of meaning: the space-frame in Bacon.

The Animal Surfaces: The Gaping Mouth in Francis Bacon's Work (2017)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2017). The Animal Surfaces: The Gaping Mouth in Francis Bacon's Work. Visual Anthropology, 30, 328--343. https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2017.1333363

Among the most popular motifs in Francis Bacon{\textquoteright}s painting is the gaping mouth. In some works the expression appears to be a scream, while elsewhere the mouth is open, replete with upper and lower teeth, but beyond that it is unclear w... Read More about The Animal Surfaces: The Gaping Mouth in Francis Bacon's Work.

Rethinking Black Art as a Category of Experience (2017)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2017). Rethinking Black Art as a Category of Experience. Visual culture in Britain, 18, 163--175. https://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2017.1328986

Black art was a widely used category in the late 1970s and 1980s to describe the artwork of British people of South Asian, African or African-Caribbean descent. There are numerous problems associated with the collective labelling of such a group, not... Read More about Rethinking Black Art as a Category of Experience.

Inter-generational perspectives on caste: A Hindu Punjabi study (2017)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2017). Inter-generational perspectives on caste: A Hindu Punjabi study. Contemporary South Asia, 25, 285--300. https://doi.org/10.1080/09584935.2017.1315364

Caste in its manifold aspects has been a feature of studies about the Indian subcontinent. In the last few decades scholarship has begun to examine the impact that caste has had on culture in the diasporas. This article is a study of inter-generation... Read More about Inter-generational perspectives on caste: A Hindu Punjabi study.

The influence of Roy de Maistre on Francis Bacon (2017)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2017). The influence of Roy de Maistre on Francis Bacon. Religion and the Arts, 21, 607--622. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685292-02105001

Very little is said about the Australian artist Roy de Maistre in scholarship on Francis Bacon, apart from the fact that he provided guidance about painting processes and other technical issues. There are a number of reasons for this and this article... Read More about The influence of Roy de Maistre on Francis Bacon.

Abjection interrogated: Uncovering the relation between abjection and disgust (2017)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2017). Abjection interrogated: Uncovering the relation between abjection and disgust. https://doi.org/10.5617/jea.4337

Julia Kristeva{\textquoteright}s theory of abjection, as propounded in Powers of Horror, emphasises the centrality of the repulsion caused by bodily experience in human life, and explains behaviours in and attitudes to our environment. The phenomenol... Read More about Abjection interrogated: Uncovering the relation between abjection and disgust.

Reflections on the Spiritual in Rothko (2016)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2016). Reflections on the Spiritual in Rothko. Religion and the Arts, 20, 315--335. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685292-02003003

Much has been made of the metaphysical aspects of Mark Rothko's abstract art, especially his classic works of the 1950s and the Seagram murals. The claims for the spirituality of Rothko's work are by no means unique either to his art or to art in gen... Read More about Reflections on the Spiritual in Rothko.

Religion, Spirituality and Secularity (2016)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2016). Religion, Spirituality and Secularity. The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, 24, 131--150. https://doi.org/10.1093/ywcct/mbw007

This chapter responds to a range of contemporary debates in the fields of religion, spirituality and secularism in books published in 2015. The chapter is divided into three sections: 1. The Visual and Material Culture of Religion; 2. Secularism and... Read More about Religion, Spirituality and Secularity.

Religion, Spirituality and Secularism (2015)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2015). Religion, Spirituality and Secularism. The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory, 23, 1--19. https://doi.org/10.1093/ywcct/mbu022

This chapter responds to a range of contemporary debates in the field of religion, spirituality and secularism in books published between 2013 and 2014. The chapter is divided into three sections: 1. Religion and Digital Culture; 2. Religion and the... Read More about Religion, Spirituality and Secularism.

Bacon and Bergson on Time and Motion (2015)
Journal Article
Arya, R. (2015). Bacon and Bergson on Time and Motion. Visual culture in Britain, 16, 67--85. https://doi.org/10.1080/14714787.2015.990331

The bearing of Bergsonian thought on Bacon{\textquoteright}s paintings has become apparent as a result of Deleuze{\textquoteright}s study, Francis Bacon: Logique de la sensation (1981). But aside from Deleuze{\textquoteright}s application, there is a... Read More about Bacon and Bergson on Time and Motion.