SHANTI DES FOURS

Last Resort is a single-channel stop-motion video that presents 467 stills from a 12-minute recording of the artist, Des Fours, applying Tilak—a sacred mark of devotion in Hinduism. Rather than unfolding in quiet spiritual resolve, the performance is an urgent response to global crises, where Des Fours turns to the remembered gods of her childhood as a last resort—a prayer for divine intervention when her faith in humanity fades. Yet, in its creation, this performance unearths deeper, unexpected tensions, and for the artist, Last Resort becomes something more.

At the heart of Last Resort lies a tension between cultural appropriation and spirituality. The application of Tilak is not a mere aesthetic gesture; it is deeply embedded in Hindu religious practice. Raised within the Hare Krishna tradition—a movement rooted in Vaishnavism, one of the major sects of Hinduism—Des Fours grapples with her identity as a white woman returning to a practice originating from a different culture. This prompts questions: Does she have the right to borrow these spiritual practices in her attempts to invoke the attention of the gods? Can a connection to the divine transcend cultural boundaries, or does she risk perpetuating a history of colonial extraction?

The Hare Krishna movement itself complicates this further. Introduced to the West by an Indian missionary in 1965, it transformed Vaishnavism from a regional Hindu sect into a global counter-culture phenomenon. Des Fours' childhood within this movement is part of a larger narrative of globalisation, religious transformation, and cultural transmission, where cultural and geographical boundaries shift, creating hybrid identities like Des Fours’ own.

So, who has the right to borrow practices from another’s faith and culture? In our interconnected world, are we entering an era of spiritual free-for-all? Who draws the lines, and are they being crossed? Des Fours’ uncertain and clumsy application of Tilak embodies this inner conflict—she is no longer fully at home in this remembered tradition, yet cannot detach it from her spiritual and personal history. If she needs to get a message to the Gods, this is the way she knows how.