Once dyed indigo, the canvas was physically dragged through the waters and sands of the Pacific Ocean before it was painted red. These gestures were made to conjure erasure, purification, and release. While the marks made by the tide, sand, and rocks lay beyond Paul’s control, Red Threshold is, at its core, a profoundly personal work. Every abrasion, stain, and trace bears witness to Paul’s deeply held experiences of hurt, betrayal, and grief, translating private emotion into a visceral material language.

Two red plastic bangles— one intact and the other broken— are deliberately embedded, grounding Red Threshold in the emotional terrain from which it emerged. In South Asian culture, these intimate objects signify marriage, femininity, social identity, and belonging. Over time, they become imprinted by the wearer’s body. When they are broken or twisted, it can be due to violence, loss, or death.

The inclusion of plastic jasmine is also significant. In Hindu traditions, jasmine is widely offered to deities during puja (rituals to worship, honor, or celebrate). Its fragrance and white blossoms symbolize purity, beauty, devotion, and spiritual aspiration. By using plastic flowers, Paul subverts these traditional associations. Lasting forever without scent or decay, the artificial blossoms provide a stark contrast to the complex human entanglements that shape lived experience.

Finally, the choice of vermilion red as the dominant color is meant to assault the senses. Its intense hue most vividly evokes the space between rupture and grief, where deeply held emotions associated with the end of a marriage exist. It is a color rarely used in her practice either before or after the creation of this work—marking a personal as well as symbolic threshold.

Namita Paul