Beyond the canvas

Thirty years ago, artist Seema Kohli was engulfed by the philosophy of Hiranyagarbha or the golden womb. She continues to engage with it to express and share its beauty through different mediums — paintings, performances, sculptures, jewellery. In Silence The Secrets Speak is a performative piece that resulted from the involvement. An amalgamation of poetry and movements, the performance was presented at National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA), Bengaluru recently.

As she read out her poetry, Bharatanatya dancer Lokesh Bharadwaj performed subtle movements, not interpreting her verse literally but suggesting it simply. “The idea is to make it accessible to the public, and relatable. My performances are casual. There was no music, just my voice and we planned to have a weaver, weaving live but then he developed cold feet. We still had an embroidered tree of life on stage. As a painter, I have not tried and likewise don’t try with my performances either,” says the Delhi-based artist, who also had a Q and A session with the audience after the performance.

But how has she remained hooked on to the concept and why? “I am not talking about the female but feminine energy. I am not talking about gender, but about the source of that energy. The womb can be ideological and social and not always biological. And when there is no gender associated with it, how can we negate the feminine or the masculine? Your conversation with me can give birth to an idea... It is the birth, the evolution and the creation which is happening around us all the time. Hiranyagarbha also refers to the sun and the sun is understood to be a male form but how is he creating and nourishing all of us?” asks Seema, explaining her fascination for the subject.

Trees, oceans, streams, mythical creatures, anthropomorphic creatures occur and recur in her work, laced with intricate detailing. “These images appear like repetitive chanting of mantra. So, they keep appearing in my densely narrative work. But I never try to give a message,” says the artist. She feels traversing different paths are essential to her growth as an artist which is why Seema constantly tries to experiment with her work. “For me, it is necessary to keep enriching myself and how, through varied experiences. If as an artist, you don’t receive, then how will you give it out? When I perform, I also see the archetypes of my art, images and ideas,” expresses Seema, who also writes poetry but doesn’t call herself a poetess. “I call it broken prose.” The piece in question was conceived last year in Chennai while doing a commissioned work for Park Hyatt. “A painting is like a conversation between the artist and the canvas and some paintings tell you the need to be expressed in other ways.” The artist did her first ever performance in 2002 with an experiential performance video. She was shot in various locations like ruins, temples where her emotions were captured. These were then edited and presented. She continues to pursue the concept to date. She has also presented her poetry at TEDx Bengaluru, “Unending Dance of Life” in Benaras in 2015, and other performances in Beijing Biennale, Kochi-Muziris Biennale, ARCO in Madrid and Venice Biennale. The artist is now embarking on a major tour in the US where she will visit six universities delivering lectures and conducting workshops. It will be followed by a show, featuring 14-feet scrolls of drawings, to Kochi, Mumbai and Venice.