The second segment is Self-portrait, Yakshi series. Yakshis, female nature spirits, seem to be relatively peripheral to current
mainstream Hindu religion and spirituality, but have dominated much of the art of early India, especially the phase of pre-Aryan
Indian “animism.” They are often considered to be women who were killed as a result of injustice, and who return as spirits to
avenge their deaths. The symbol of Yakshis overlaps across Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain practices, and later in Mughal and Pahari
miniature paintings and temple architecture and iconographies. Bhat is interested in exploring the idea of Yakshis as women
embodying both fierce independence and sensuality. The 7 sculptures in this series consider the idea of floral eroticism by
depicting half a woman and half a flowering plant. Each situates itself within California ecology, specifically in Bhat’s garden in the
unincorporated town of Penngrove, in Northern California. Each flower here looks as though it is blooming from scorched earth or
regenerated forest after a wildfire, and so metaphorically relates to the Yakshi who comes alive again after her death. In the same
series, the photographic print with ceramic flowers titled, Self-portrait, Yakshi (Salabhanjika) references one of the famous Yakshis,
Salabhanjika, for inspiration. She is often depicted leaning into a Sala tree which bursts into blossom at her touch. Here, Bhat
translates the geographical location to the California landscape, where the viewer sees a nude self-portrait leaning against a Live
Oak tree, embellished by pale yellow Sala flowers.