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And the search continues...
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From tombstones that signify milestones in history to doors that offer to shut away bad memories, Khoj 2003 has plenty to offer
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Sakarin Krue-on from Thailand setting his artwork afloat at the workshop.
IT IS always fascinating to watch artists at work, either individually or collectively. Khoj 2003, currently on at the Venkatappa Gallery precincts, gives one a unique opportunity to observe and interact with artists from different parts of the country and abroad.
Jehangir Jani can be spotted instructing the masons, who are helping him with an installation which comprises three "tombstones" and an open pit by their side. The medium is concrete and their form, sculptural. The structures represent milestones in history. For Jani, the tombstones (collectively titled 1947) signify a family, nay a generation itself during Partition, while the pit (titled 2002) alludes, obviously, to the Gujarat tragedy. "My work is an obsession with life and not death!" says Jani. "Death, I wish to portray, only as a marker. Through my work, I am also conveying to the viewer the choices we seem to be making and the unclean legacies we are leaving behind to our children. Are we at all learning any lessons from incidents that breed hate and revenge? Besides looking at the past and the present, I am also presenting a hope for the future."
Kasue Sato from Japan normally works with boxes and similar structures. In Bangalore for the first time, she scrounged through the city's markets and bazaars before hitting upon the right material for her work. One can see two local weavers helping her make a gigantic bamboo basket whose length (hold your breath!) would be 10 metres when completed. Sato explains that she is always fascinated by the concept of "inside-outside", as in a box. She also feels that her work would represent the relationship between the natural (bamboo) and man-made (basket).
The senior-most artist at Khoj 2003, Tanya Preminger, is a Russian living in Israel. She is executing her outdoor sculpture right at the entrance of the gallery. It is amazing to see the patience and tireless energy she exudes as she waters three mounds of earth.
Manjula Priyadarshana from Sri Lanka hopes to soak in the ambiance presented by the stone wall and water pond on the premises.
Soon, he would be tying up his terra cotta pots on the wall while colourful thermocol floaters on the water would complete the picture.
Inside the gallery, K.T. Shiva Prasad is waiting for his carpenter who would help him present another interesting installation.
A "door" would be offered to the visitor to "lock up" his collected, but unwanted, reminiscences. He says the concept is totally Indian, and while the work itself would absorb a lot of negative energy, the visitor, having locked up his unwanted memories, would walk off with new and renewed vigour.
Nearby, Nan Khushiya Shyam from Bhopal squats on the floor, colouring vibrant animal and bird figures in the typical folk style.
Nan Khushiya Shyam from Bhopal intent in her work. — Photos: V. Sreenivasa Murthy
Alongside, Baiju Parthan from Mumbai is engrossed in his laptop, while Karl Antao is mentally setting up a stage for his work, which is a tribute to riot victims in relief camps.
His installation would incorporate a mattress balanced on knives. While the former serves to symbolise the so-called comfort being provided to the riot victims, the knives stand for the mental devastation they have suffered, which continues to haunt them despite the relative safety of the relief camp. These are but a few images and installations which are being completed at the Khoj workshop.
Ask the artists about the management of Khoj 2003, and the answer is unanimous praise.
Most of the organisers are, incidentally, young and energetic artists themselves. The participating artists say that the workshop not only provided them an effective platform to air and share their creative concerns, but also created an appropriate environment to break the geographical and other boundaries and build a rare camaraderie and solidarity.
The organisers are also quite happy about the way things have shaped up, although they have a small regret.
The artist from Pakistan, Mariam Suhail Abbasi, could not make it to the workshop due to compelling domestic reasons.
(The works that have come out of Khoj 2003 will be open for public viewing on December 20 and 21 at the Venkatappa Art Gallery.)
ATHREYA
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