Unmyth

This artist monograph presents a first comprehensive study of the artwork of Mithu Sen, a major contemporary artist and poet based in New Delhi, India. Sen’s work spans over two decades of making and hundreds of exhibitions, projects, performances, and word art, unveiling an unparalleled history of experiments with materials and concepts. The book’s title ‘UNMYTH’ speaks to Sen’s impactful and impacting work in all its multiplicity and complexity.
Sen’s art imagines new worlds for us, including to escape to and from. Some elements are familiar, others are alien. As with myths, they are lulling and disturbing at the same time. These worlds are built around the key concepts in Sen’s work: ‘mything’, ‘unmything’ and ‘postmything’; radical hospitality; ‘untaboo’ sexuality; lingual anarchy; critiquing institutions and countering capitalism; ‘unmonolith’ identity; byproducts and contract. These and other concepts are engaged with systematically in wide-ranging essays, written by eminent scholars, curators, and critics who have followed Sen’s work for many years. The artist herself contributes conceptual captions, dispersed citations, and the experimental ‘Fictional Interview’.