Tara Goswami

The role of the artist as shaman is a clear one for me. I serve as the tool through which Nature chooses to express Herself. Works are often therefore not so much ‘creations’ but transmissions of energies that already exist. In order to be receptive to these transmissions though, one needs to do the constant work of rening one’s understanding of Reality. Inherent to my artistic process has been an intense and dedicated yoga practice spanning over 16 years. As a philosophy, a lifestyle, somatic experience and spiritual path, yoga chips away the extra bits that keep one myopic, expands perception and strengthens connection.
After yoga set the preparatory stage, I was drawn into the more esoteric path of Tantra. Following my roots and in keeping with my blood lineage of grandmothers/aunts and great grandmothers who were strong Śakti worshippers, I became the first initiate in my family into the Assamese Śākta Tantra tradition (worship of the feminine principle), of the Kāmakhya temple – the most revered Śakti Peeth (seat of Śakti) in the world. 

As an embodied practice – a sādhana in itself as it were, my art is the natural translation of my daily life, enquiries, lifelong commitment to learning, practices and the experiences that come with it. I use mantra, ritual, abstract imagery, repetition, nature and my own body. Yogic thought, mysticism and the divine feminine therefore play a prominent role in it. Without ever needing to represent Her in her anthropomorphic form, the Goddess appears in Her subtle/energetic versions. Some imagined, some experienced and some inferred from texts. Leaving clear residues of Her vibrant pulsation. When I speak of the Goddess, though I draw from the tradition I am from, I am not bound by religion or any kind of sectarianism and consider my work to be universal. I am a lover of the divine seeking out mirrors that show me my Self and thrilled by the constant process of defying definition.