The sculptures in the Formal Garden explore ideas of transformation, the body, mythology, and the impact of conflict and violence. Each artist explores these themes in their own way, creating unsettling and ambiguous hybrid figures. 

choleric, phlegmatic, melancholy, sanguine is a representation of Kali, the Hindu goddess of time and death. Bharti Kher is fascinated by her as a complex and powerful female icon. Kali embodies both creation and destruction, and is a mother figure and a fierce destroyer of evil. She is associated with serpents as well as conch shells, which can be seen here as masks on the figure’s distorted faces. 

The title refers to the ancient Greek theory of the ‘four humours’ that defines personality types. Based on bodily fluids, each humour represents a different human temperament. Bharti Kher (b. 1969) explores the concept that we have multiple versions of ourselves. She challenges fixed ideas of identity and objects to see what other meanings might be possible. Mythology is important in her work. Kher is inspired by stories of creatures and spirits who live between worlds and different bodies. She blurs the boundaries between animals, humans and nature. 

See other sculptures by Bharti Kher in the landscape at YSP, with Ancestor on Hillside and The Fallow at Upper Lake.