In the 1990s internationally renowned Indian artist Sheela Gowda exchanged oil paint for cow-dung. This dramatic shift occurred in response to the rise in Hindu fundamentalism and as way to voice her distress at the violence of the Hindu / Muslim riots. From a eurocentric art-historical perspective, adopting cow-dung to create art may seem like a radical move, but in India it is a material rich in multi layered histories and one resonating with ritual, economic and gendered subtexts and overtones. This thesis analyzes Gowda's multi-coded artworks in an attempt to render more visible an artist who is an important contributor to the international contemporary art scene, to render viable arts usually considered marginal, minor or folk, and to balance an art historical canon which still favours the "high arts" as well as white, western or male artists. It argues not only for the validity of art in its many forms, but also for art historical scholarship which functions as bridge to forge meaning and open up dialogue between artists, viewers, critics and curators.

In the 1990s internationally renowned Indian artist Sheela Gowda exchanged oil paint for cow-dung. This dramatic shift occurred in response to the rise in Hindu fundamentalism and as way to voice her distress at the violence of the Hindu / Muslim riots. From a eurocentric art-historical perspective, adopting cow-dung to create art may seem like a radical move, but in India it is a material rich in multi layered histories and one resonating with ritual, economic and gendered subtexts and overtones. This thesis analyzes Gowda's multi-coded artworks in an attempt to render more visible an artist who is an important contributor to the international contemporary art scene, to render viable arts usually considered marginal, minor or folk, and to balance an art historical canon which still favours the "high arts" as well as white, western or male artists. It argues not only for the validity of art in its many forms, but also for art historical scholarship which functions as bridge to forge meaning and open up dialogue between artists, viewers, critics and curators.