Saannidhyam (The Presence)

Saannidhyam was an installation I had done in connection with Biennale 2014 as a part of the collateral show ‘Land Reformed 2’ done by artist and my friend Nanda Kumar. The place was a small courtyard rectangular in shape and I placed a self portrait of mine and a white clothed figure at one corner as the installation. To complete the work I and my friends painted the wall and pillars of the courtyard making them look like a 3 dimensional painting. The idea was to make people walk through this 3d painting and enjoy the feel.

There was a kind of balance between the white clothed figure placed at one corner facing away from the spectator and the self portrait done in a peculiar way. In the self-portrait, I have shown myself as an old grandmother in her beautiful dress and ornaments. It drags you a 100 years back in time. The white figure seemed to carry an element of menace with it (maybe because its face was turned away from the spectator); which is somehow mellowed or put under control by the presence of the self-portrait. The best part of the show was the play of natural light inside the place. The lighting changed during different times of the day giving an unearthly ambience for the whole show. For me it was a great success since I was able to condense 15 years of my search in art to a certain culminating point while doing the show.