Coming from a simple Bengali family (She is from Kolkata but because of her father’s transferable job, she spent time travelling across Bengal) to winning the first ever Skoda Prize on Indian Contemporary art, Mithu Sen has come a long way. At school she was an all rounder known for winning medals in athletics, acting, art and also for giving away sketches made by her to her friends and relatives as a token of love. She did not know much of art colleges and artists but chose to join the Art course at Shantiniketan because other professional studies like Medicine and Engineering did not entice her.

Today her art is celebrated across the world and she can be often found giving away her works of art free in return of a conversation or a letter written with “love” much to the chagrin of her representatives. She uses her own voice, blood and hair to create awe-inspiring installations revolving around femininity, eroticism and sometimes grotesque. Despite her fame/recognition, she is strongly rooted to the ground and gets overwhelmed by simple joys like naming and conversing with a potted plant.

The OpenHaus team in a free spirited chat with Mithu Sen who has a child-like enthusiasm when she says she is ‘really a lucky girl’ to be at a place where she is today.

How did fame and recognition affect/impact you?

Interpreting the idea of fashion. I peeled off the wall paints,layered and re-layered for many times/years by different residency artists from all over the world…it was to me a game of forepalying…taking off the clothes instead of wrapping/robing it around!

I came to Delhi, to join my then boyfriend and now husband Samit Das. I started teaching art in a school in Delhi and was quite happy with it. The scholarship to Glasgow (UK) made a lot of impact on my work/life and opened up my eyes even broader. (Between 2000 and 2006, Mithu was working almost 18 hours a day and found critical acclaim with her exhibitions – “Twilight” where she used charcoal to narrate the sexual violence of a rape victim . In “I Hate Pink” she used everyday things like hangers, chappals draped in pink silk with images of lips, genitalia, fetuses to deconstruct the kitschy image of pink. “Drawing Room”  tongues with baited fish, bananas morphed into penises, and trees and roses bracketed rigid skeletal bones. The room where she was exhibiting itself became part of her work where the lines moved from her work  to the walls, as the lines from her work stretched to the walls.)

I could not grasp the way and the functioning of the art world. Buyers were paying astronomical sums of money for my work. For a piece of my work, I was being offered an amount which somebody would perhaps earn in a year. My friends thought I had become ‘hot-shot’ and started looking at me with awe. This was something which I couldn’t come to terms with. I was still the same person and my love for art was still the same.

I was getting disillusioned by the art market that I was part of, so to free myself from this conflict I launched the ‘Free Mithu’ project. It began as an invitation to close friends to write to me a hand written letter with “love” in return of which I would give a personally autographed piece of my art, poems, etc. with a certificate of authenticity and valuation. But it somehow gained momentum and I had people writing to me from across the world.

The project, has, since then become a personal journey and I keep seeking inspiration from friends and people for my shows and works.

How did you go about ‘Free Mithu’?

I set up a website and asked people to fill up a series of absurd and weird questions (like if they preferred Shahrukh Khan or a Jackfruit). It helped me connect with the person and create a piece of work which I thought suited the personality of the person. Like I gave one of my works to someone who really wanted to acquire my work but couldn’t afford the market price (in return Mithu asked the person to invest the available funds on a younger artist).

From the very beginning I was clear that people could do anything with the work I have gifted them – sell, destroy, re- gift, keep. But the underlying theme was “Love”. I have kept a record of all the pieces that I have created and it has helped me immensely.

‘Free Mithu’ is not yet over. Along with my other commitments, I keep working on delivering my art works to people who wrote to me.

How did Shantiniketan help you?

I was quite popular in school and always took things in my stride. When I used to run, my focus was just running. My peers would screamkaali kaali(because of my dark skin) and I would only think of it as adulation, admiration for me and I only strived to do better.

Shantiniketan helped me further in focusing on my work and developing self confidence with the thing that I believe I was a kind of maverick (I think I still am). My focus was always clear and other things just happened. There were these field trips that I would want to go, but did not ask my parents for money much, so I would create terracotta jewellery and sit at the village melas and the moment I had enough money for the trip, I would pack my belongings and walk away with my rucksack. I was never inclined to make more money by selling more trinkets. My aim was to have enough for my field trip and I was happy when I was able to do so.

How do you define your style?

I work on the initial draft/ concept for a very long time before giving it shape through different mediums. I am connected with each of my work. In some works I have used my blood, hair and even used my voice as part of an installation and sometimes my work evolves as I keep working.

For “It’s good to be a queen” show in New York, I was working in this apartment for a period of 2 months before the opening. When the gallery came to make a list of my works for the show, I made him document everything in my apartment I made sure that the half eaten toast on a plate and a mug of tea on the window sill was also. Initially the representative was a little apprehensive but then later realized it was an essence of the theme. In fact, on the day of the opening of the show, just before the allocated hour I switched off my mobile and went away on a long walk and only returned much after the show was over. It was just like the theme of the show – I was the “queen” and I would not interact with people commonly. I meant no disrespect to my audience, and later I personally called and met up people (who came for the show) for coffee for the next few days. I was also giving away my drawings to them as an appreciation but the gallery people thought I should not be doing so, as it was against the market rules.

For another show, called ‘me two’ in Vienna 2009, though the gallery had allocated me one room to display my works, I insisted on having another room along with it. The gallery people were a little confused about it as all my works were already in one room. For the other room, we made it dark and in the middle of the room I put up a voice recorder. While working on the show, I had tremendous emotions, conflict and I wanted that to be a part of the show. So I recorded my voice with different modulations and intensity explaining this conflict and made it available for the visitors to the show. It was a confession note about the repetition on contemporary art practice, of which I was a part too. So I wanted to challenge my own practice being the victim of this situation by putting them in parallel galleries.

In retrospect I think I am just lucky to have such charming gallery people who have stood by my whims and fancies.

What is your advice to aspiring artists?

I have always believed that one should focus on one’s work and not what one would get because of the work. If your work is good, you will be recognized and everything else will follow.

Who are your favourite artists?

I have many favourite art pieces and concepts by diff artists. I like to think about that very art work and then the artist