Someone Else, 2011―2013

Shilpa Gupta
Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms, 2011―2013
Metal etched books and shelves
Dimensions variable
Detail view
Courtesy Private Collection, Mexico City and Sharjah Art Foundation

Overview

Over the years and throughout the world, authors have written under pseudonyms or anonymously. They have done so for various reasons, sometimes by force and sometimes by choice: to conceal their gender; to hide their identity for fear of state persecution; to pursue with freedom the genre in which they would like to write; or to separate their personal identity from their professional one.

The process of creating Someone Else involved research to find one hundred different authors and their reasons for concealing their identities, digitally tracing their book covers – including the oldest known cover bearing a pseudonym – and finally making them into stainless-steel books with the reasons for their authors’ anonymity etched into them.


2013

This project was part of Sharjah Biennial 11

Artwork Images

Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms

Shilpa Gupta
2011—2013

Metal etched books and shelves
Dimensions variable
Detail view
Courtesy Private Collection, Mexico City and Sharjah Art Foundation

View all images
Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms Image

Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms

Shilpa Gupta
2011—2013

Metal etched books and shelves
Dimensions variable
Detail view
Courtesy Private Collection, Mexico City and Sharjah Art Foundation

Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms Image

Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms

Shilpa Gupta
2011—2013

Metal etched books and shelves
Dimensions variable
Installation view
Courtesy Private Collection, Mexico City and Sharjah Art Foundation

Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms Image

Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms

Shilpa Gupta
2011—2013

Metal etched books and shelves
Dimensions variable
Installation view
Courtesy Private Collection, Mexico City and Sharjah Art Foundation

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Someone Else- A library of 100 books written anonymously or under pseudonyms Image