‘Ant Queen/Cleopatra’ (2012) is a striking charcoal work with a spectral beauty evoking the long-lost world of silent movies. Ganesh’s body of charcoal drawings evolved from a practice which is unified by a keen interest in exploring intersections of mythic narratives, bodily excess, science fiction, and iconic representations of femininity.

The work depicts a still from ‘Cleopatra’ – an enormously popular silent film from India. ‘Cleopatra’ epitomizes the convergence of fantasy, orientalism and science fiction that were at the heart of early silent cinema, and is therefore key to understanding the limits and possibilities of the medium. Ganesh draws the lead Theda Barda - one of the first and most famous actresses in the silent era. The roles she played were very impactful and gave rise to the trope of the vamp. Barda’s extraordinary oeuvre was confined to the silent era between 1914 and 1926 and most of the films she was in were destroyed in the Fox Studio fire in 1937. Many Indian silent films have been lost or destroyed and Ganesh muses “This is one of the reasons I love with the material - its array of fragments provide fertile grounds for imagination, reconstruction, and speculation.” Ganesh was drawn to this moment because of Theda Barda’s gesture and what she is able to silently communicate with her eyes, as well as her futuristic style costume which is simultaneously historic and forward looking.