Josephine Devanbu is a Tamil American taking up the refuse of empire and transforming it into vehicles for connecting with our bodies, each other, and the land we find ourselves occupying. 

Recently, her practice has taken as a point of departure the medieval Tamil tradition of building and riding the matal—a horse crafted by the lovelorn out of salvaged palm fronds. Desperate for greater intimacy with the world, the matal rider sculpts the landscape into a platform for her radical demands. 

Alongside her sculpture and performance practice, Devanbu facilitates somatic experiences in which participants tune into sensation to guide improvisation, sculpting salvaged materials and the land itself into collective declarations of longing.