Princess Pea, the anonymous artist who sports a unique pea-inspired headgear, is known for her alter ego—a ‘living toy’ that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, appearing as an anime-style figure that can neither talk, smell, nor hear. Through her practice, she raises critical questions about femininity, self-worth, and societal roles, blending satire with deep reflection on the human condition. Her art opens up spaces for dialogue, examining what it means to be a woman today.
Over the past decade, Princess Pea’s headgear has evolved, but its function remains the same – an instrument of change that the artist uses to foreground the experiences of women from diverse backgrounds. The headgear brings into play subtle theatrics through the artist’s performance pieces, representing the weight of societal constructs that women have to carry. It is often sported not just by the artist but by various other women — creating a safe space for the protagonists and the rest of the world in a collective effort to uphold inter-generational knowledge. In Princess Pea’s words, “I started alone, but now I am many.”
From homemakers and small entrepreneurs to women facing body image violence, mental health challenges, and abuse, Princess Pea’s art engages with themes of gender, urbanisation, and visibility. Through her collaborations with differently-abled women, the artist confronts systemic erasure and promotes women-led narratives of self. Her art, once an isolated exploration of her character’s fictional world, now involves community-led projects that highlight the politics and aesthetics of care in domestic life.
Princess Pea was born in Ferozpur, India in 1980. Through her contempoary at practices Princess Pea brings to the forefront international issues of tradition, identity and celebrity with an underlined satire on global concerns.