In Search of Vanished Blood
- Artist: Nalini Malani
- Date: 2012–20
- Medium: Video, 6 projections, colour and sound, acrylic paint and ink on polyester film, motors and painted metal
- Dimensions: Overall display dimensions variable
- Museum: Tate Modern
- Collection record: Tate Modern website
Listen to the free audio guide
About this artwork
This is the “In Search of Vanished Blood” by Nalini Malani, a room‑sized video shadow play created between 2012 and 2020. The piece consists of six synchronised projections, a soundscape, and five transparent cylinders that rotate at four revolutions per minute. Inside each cylinder, reverse‑painted images of mythic figures, surgical instruments, and dispossessed people cast shadows onto the walls as the films unfold.
Malani uses the ancient Greek oracle Cassandra as a narrator, blending texts from German writers Christa Wolf and Heiner Müller, Indian activist Mahasweta Devi, and Irish author Samuel Beckett to foretell violence against women in times of political upheaval. Lines from the Pakistani poem “Lahu ka Surag” by Faiz Ahmed Faiz appear over Cassandra’s veiled face, linking the work to broader themes of remembrance and loss.
Through the interplay of shadow and image, the installation amplifies forgotten women’s voices, reflecting Malani’s commitment to feminist activism and her belief in shared humanity over division.
See it in person
In Search of Vanished Blood is in the collection of Tate Modern on Bankside, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
