Holy River - 2011

Created in Calcutta in 2011, Holy River is the third segment of the Holy Daughters project, which confronted passers-by in the streets of New Delhi with the political and ethical issue of gender selection and its consequences. Prune Nourry decided to return to India in the wake of the census results made public that same year, the most disturbing since economist and philosopher Amartya Sen first highlighted gender imbalance in 1971: 914 girls for every 1,000 boys.

During the traditional Durga Puja festival, monumental sculptures of Ganesh and Durga, made from straw and Ganges clay by sculptors from the Kumartuli district of Calcutta, are paraded through the city prior to immersion in the sacred river.