Bharti Kher’s Supersized Bindis Adorn Hayward Gallery

Bharti Kher b. 1969, United Kingdom Follow +

A collection of colourful concentric circles reminiscent of archery targets have been installed on the exterior of the Hayward Gallery.

While the title of Bharti Kher's work Target Queen (2024) suggests a frugal American shopper, it is in fact inspired by bindis, the coloured dots or stickers applied at the site of the third eye chakra by some Hindus, Jains, and Buddhists. Only, these bindis are over three metres in diameter.

In 2015, the New Delhi-based artist told Ocula, 'I am actually an abstract artist, as well as a figurative one. The bindi works have allowed me to do that, which has been really interesting for me.'

'My outdoor work is a key part of my practice, so I couldn't be more delighted to be working with a space as renowned as the Hayward Gallery to present this work for the first time at a London institution,' she said in a statement.

Rachel Thomas, Chief Curator at the Hayward Gallery, said, 'Kher's art recontextualises the traditional target motif into a symbol of the divine feminine, blending cultural narrative with aesthetic innovation.'

Target Queen launched alongside Bharti Kher's solo exhibition Alchemies at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which continues through 27 April 2025. —[O]

Main image: Installation view: Bharti Kher: Target Queen, Hayward Gallery, 2024. Photo: Jo Underhill. Courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth.