User:Jazzyhothi/gap analysis

Gap analysis

 * What is the title of the article in which you identified a gap. If no article exists at all, what should the title be?

Tejal Shah


 * Document the gap you found, describe how you identified it, and analyze its impact on knowledge.

As I was searching through the English Wikipedia, I came across a list of requested articles for artists in the Feminist Art Base on the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art website. I was shocked to discover that Indian visual artist, Tejal Shah, did not have an article dedicated to them. Although the German Wikipedia has a brief page on them, the writers did not use Shah’s preferred pronouns (they/them). Tejal Shah should have their own Wikipedia article, and their name should be filed under the “List of feminist artists” on Wikipedia. Shah uses photography, video, performance, and multiple other art forms in deconstructing gender binaries by focusing on queer lives in India. Shah focuses on the hijra community, which is a South Asian community of transgender women. In their art pieces, Shah focuses on discovering identities through the interconnected social powers of genderism, classism, racism, and colonialism in South Asia. Shah is a revolutionary, intersectional feminist, for they transcend the concept of “otherness,” which places gender non-conforming individuals in the gender binary system. Although Shah’s work has been shown in various museums and galleries worldwide, the English Wikipedia does not have a page dedicated to them. The usage of incorrect pronouns in the German Wikipedia encourages the neglect of gender non-conforming individuals in education. By not including Shah, the English Wikipedia is excluding a contemporary artist, who as a non-Western queer person of color, has experienced and seen multiple forms of oppression that creates an interconnected message within their artwork. Since Wikipedia is such a popular website, the absence of Shah does not allow people to grow their knowledge on a contemporary feminist artist that is breaking down the walls of societal constructs.


 * Propose a paragraph of new or substantially edited content based on reliable sources. (If you are editing existing content, post the current version along with your edited version, and clearly mark which is which.)

Tejal Shah (born 1979) is an Indian visual artist, who uses photography, video, performance, and other forms of visual media to display relationships between gender and other identities. Shah was born in Bhilai, India, and they were raised in a conservative, middle-class family; Shah has stated that their family life made them feel like an outcast growing up. Their mother encouraged Shah’s artistic endeavors, and Shah later moved to Mumbai and pursued the art of photography. In Mumbai, Shah’s awareness of pressing feminist issues grew, and they joined a feminist organization. Shah graduated from the RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia with a Bachelor of Arts in photography. Several of Shah’s art pieces reflect the desires of the hijra community, which is the transgender women population in South Asia.

Some of Shah’s popular pieces include Chingari Chumma (Stinging Kiss) (2000), Trans- (2004-2005), “What Are You?” (2006), and Between the Waves (2012). Chingari Chumma (Stinging Kiss) provides a Bollywood film scenario, where the villain is typically a man, and the victim is a woman. Instead, Shah provides a scenario where they are the villain, and the victim is a man, effectively removing the binaries of masculinity and femininity that are often present in Bollywood films. Trans- was displayed in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum. In the video piece, one screen shows a woman dressing with clothing associated with femininity, while on the other screen, she is dressing with clothing associated with masculinity. The teenagers looking at the video piece in the museum began to question the sexuality of their classmates, which emphasizes the idea of various identities that is often found in Shah’s artwork. “What Are You?” has been shown in museums in both Mumbai and New York, and this installation shows the complexity of intersectional identity. Shah’s video installation Between the Waves depicts the erasing of binary differences. Many of Shah’s artworks emphasize the interconnected relationships between gender, sex, race, class, and colonial impact.


 * List the reliable sources that could be used to improve this gap. (You can use the Cite tool from the editing toolbar above to input and format your sources.)

References:
 * "Tejal Shah." Info-Tejal Shah. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * "Tejal Shah." Brooklyn Museum: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * Monnet, Livia. "Queerness In/as the Strange, Prismatic Worlds of Art”: Fantasy, Utopia, and Perversion in Tejal Shah’s Video Installation “What Are You?”." (n.d.): 1-21. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * Padgaonkar, Pooja. "Shining a Spotlight on the Marginalized: Tejal Shah's Photographic Representation of the Hijra Community in India." TCNJ Journal of Student Scholarship 17 (2015): 1-11. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * Dave-Mukherji, Parul. "Entangled Temporality in Art Practice: Contemporary Revisiting of the 'Golden' Age." Asia Art Archive. N.p., May 2012. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * Kaushik, Minakshi. "Minakshi Kaushik: Indian Women’s Performance Art."Muse India. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * Ehrlich, Cheri Eileen. "Adolescent Girls’ Responses to Feminist Artworks in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum." Visual Arts Research 37.73 (2011): n. pag. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.
 * Dhawan, Nikita, Antke Engel, Christoph F.E. Holzhey, and Volker Woltersdorff, eds. Global Justice and Desire: Queering Economy. N.p.: n.p., n.d. PDF.