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Incarnations of I

Sponsored Project

  • Sharbari Bose Kamat, Director
  • Vanessa Roth, Producer
  • Rianjali Bhowmick, Producer
The right foot of five different girls and women with toes pointing upward to reveal the soles of their feet, which have been dyed red.

About the Project

INCARNATIONS OF I is the story of a Bengali American woman, who after decades of devotion a Hindu warrior goddess, gives voice to unspoken trauma through the traditional art of clay idol-making—discovering what it means to create, to heal, and to be loved.

Over the course of the film, she connects with three artisans in West Bengal whose labor of molding statues for religious festivals, by hand, is a salve for painful life experiences not unlike her own. For 40 years, the idol of the goddess that her immigrant father sculpted in the States was her spiritual anchor as she struggled with depression and anxiety stemming from abuse.

In a culture that stigmatizes mental health, she sees herself mirrored in the artisans’ stories as they break cycles of generational trauma and forge lives full of creativity and faith. While hard truths emerge, INCARNATIONS OF I celebrates healing amid the beauty and chaos of worship.

By following one woman's journey to understand her own pain, the film shows how art and faith intertwine to bring solace from personal tragedy. It shines a light on trauma and healing within the Bengali community, sharing a glimpse of India that is at once complex, nuanced, and stunning, but is also a universal story about loss and love.