The Blasphemous Art Project

The story of Sita’s abduction by demon king Ravana is one of the most famous stories in the Hindu epic the Ramayana. Given religions’ anti-demon bias, we think Ravana was unfairly vilified in this story. We wanted to portray a love story, previously misrepresented as abduction, from the perspective of Sita who had to deny her true love for Ravana to protect herself from the vengeful god Rama.

The month of Ramadan is a period of time where Muslims are obligated to fast from sunrise until sunset. At the end of each day, the breaking of fast is called iftar. In many places in the world, eating in public is criminalized during Ramadan, and many more people are forced to fast against their will due to familial or communal pressure. This art in celebration of Ramadan features two chadori women who are breaking their fast in the most sinful way possible!

Sex-negativity was introduced to Hinduism through the invasion of the British and Islamic empires. While we take issue with many other aspects of Hinduism, like superstition, the caste system, and the idea of karma, its attitude towards sexuality was not always so restrictive. In our version of this Hindu mythology, Hindu goddesses like Lakshmi and Draupadi, want to let their worshippers know that there’s nothing wrong with sex and sexuality, and in fact they celebrate it!

According to Hindu scripture, Hindu God Lord Rama beheaded a low-caste man, Shambuka, for trying to attain heaven and reach godhood through acts forbidden to people of such low-caste. This reminded us of how the Biblical God prohibited man from eating the fruit of knowledge and how the devil told Eve "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God..."

Gods are often used in mythology to remind humans to stay in their place, not to ask questions, accept their roles and obey. Devil and demons on the other hand are used to portray the rebels, the curious, the blasphemers, and the ambitious as villains.

In our version of the story, we make the two worlds cross and have one rebel come to the aid of another, against the tyranny of gods.

The Hindu Goddess Lakshmi is known by many as a deity of wealth, prosperity, and fortune. Here she is pictured gifting a blessing of the cryptocurrency Ethereum.

We made this in celebration of our new NFT store, where you can buy some of our selected art and make them you own.

Currencies, like myths, are stories that obtain their value from the people who believe in them. We don’t know what stories we are going to tell each other in the future, but if humanity is to reach godhood, the stories that are currencies will have to be stories that we want to tell, not stories that are written for us by central banks or governments.