Vibrant, abstract circles resembling ‘super-sized bindis’ have taken up position on the brutalist exterior of the Hayward Gallery at the Southbank Centre in London for British-Indian artist Bharti Kher’s outdoor installation, Target Queen.

The brightly-coloured abstract artworks represent bindis, a powerful symbol women use in South Asian culture to denote ‘a third eye – one that forges a link between the real and the spiritual conceptual worlds,’ explains Kher. Bindis have been a recurrent motif in her work since 1995, but this is the first time Kher has applied them to the exterior of a London institution.

Each bindi measures three metres in diameter and resembles a giant target, expressed in a limited colour palette; the concentric circles interact with the building’s brutalist architecture, softening the austere concrete while nodding to the cyclical nature of life.

Says Kher: ‘Target Queen is a bold, vibrant and powerful artwork that calls for greater representation of femininity and divinity, also as an exciting exploration of how the two intersect.’

The public installation is best viewed from Belvedere Road and Waterloo Bridge and coincides with the launch of Kher’s solo exhibition Alchemies at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, which runs until 27 April 2025. Target Queen is commissioned by the Hayward Gallery, with Kate and Ajay Agarwal and Hauser & Wirth.

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