I swear on my mother is a reading of the iconography of a Tamil political leader, Dr. J. Jayalalitha a.k.a. Amma (or mother), whose emergence in the political scene is tightly intertwined with the history of cinema and popular media in the state. Using videos, films, texts, images, found images and found objects, I intend to reconstruct the political history of Dr.J. Jayalalitha and her mentor, precursor Dr. M.G. Ramachandran, both of whom used films and media to capture and construct their public persona.
What we see here is a video piece, an selection from his larger body of work. Observing primarily the history of Dr. J. Jayalalitha as the centre and her usage of the television as a medium to create a certain public image. Karthik here is merely an editor using already existing material, from the films of Dr.MGR and Dr. J.Jayalalitha, their political speeches on television, the various hagiographic magazines and from books in circulation. The available material is revamped to create a position from where the history told to us would appear largely different but possibly less untrue.