Srikala Gangi Reddy was born in India and has worked in the IT industry for 13 years. She pursued her studies in computer science and statistics and has a master’s degree in computer applications and in visual arts. She has worked on global projects such as the financial trading desk, applications for the Xbox 360 and a content-management engine for Intel products. As an artist, she expresses her ideas through painting and printmaking whilst researching to incorporate artificial intelligence into her works.
“Objects that stand in mute testimony, a silent reminder of the hands which have wielded them, slowly corroding from disuse.” “their state of disuse, the frustration of the workers without a livelihood”
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The Shift, 2020, is a collection of artworks expressing resilience and transformation. It was inspired by the journey of farmers and construction workers who were displaced by dry lands and other challenges, leaving their tools and unfinished construction sites behind. To Srikala, these tools represent “objects that stand in mute testimony, a silent reminder of the hands which have wielded them, slowly corroding from disuse”. These objects are made of iron and steel, demonstrating the strength and resilience of the workers in the face of adversity. Having tested positive to the coronavirus and lived through the isolation period, Srikala understood the loneliness of the objects, “their state of disuse, the frustration of the workers without a livelihood”. The pandemic changed lives across the globe. Srikala saw the parallels in the “subtle transformation - a quiet shift of dreams, expectations, and focus”.
Women of science have often used crocheting and clothes stitching to help understand complex scientific processes and facts. This was the case of pioneering French midwife Angélique du Coudray (1712-1794) who created a mannequin of textiles to teach trainee midwives on all steps of properly attending childbirth. At that time, female midwives were barred from medical studies. In 1759, du Coudray published a midwifery manual “Abrégé de l’art des accouchements” illustrating important manoeuvres to preserve the safety of women and their new-borns at the moment of birth.
Her trainees practiced various manipulations in mock births on the life-size obstetrical mannequin and were well prepared to handle dangerous situations, such as with twins and breech presentation. Du Coudray succeeded against the opposition of male surgeons when Louis XV recognized that she was instrumental to reducing chid mortality and commissioned her to travel across France to teach the art of midwifery. She taught thousands of students and even male medical doctors and became a symbol of French medical progress.
