4th Sibling

Raised like us, but unseen by others. The “4th sibling” exists in the liminal space between myth and memory, devotion and domestic life.

In the Vaishnavite tradition of Pushtimarg, divinity is not abstract but embodied. Through Pran Pratishtha, a small idol may be adopted into the family and raised as kin: fed, clothed, and celebrated. This practice has been a part of my home-life, sustained by my mother for decades. This figure has become a fourth sibling in my life.

This project begins from a deceptively simple inquiry: what occurs when devotion enters the domestic sphere? What shifts when God is not worshipped from afar, but blooms within the home - as an intimate, invisible presence, both playmate and deity?

At its heart is a network of relationships between my mother, my siblings, and myself. The unseen bond between her and the adopted God-child becomes the gravitational axis around which everything else turns. To outsiders it remains imperceptible, but within the family it is the center of our emotional and spiritual life.

The 4th Sibling positions the mother as a vessel for living mythology, tender in her gestures and unwavering in her belief. By blending photography, material, and atmosphere, the work moves between divine and contemporary life. Manifesting inherited narratives and lived experience.

In retelling this story, I trace how mythology and motherhood converge, where care in itself is a ritual. When a mother’s role lingers between the real and the mythic, the human and the divine, the sacred and the everyday.