Payana

Note: Payana means ‘a journey’ in old Kanada.

Everything, living or non-living has a life span, ranging from short to long. This body of works attempts to explore material behavior, emotional attachment to objects, and the human tendency to cling on to petty, incidental memories. When even non-living objects have a ‘life span’, why is it that unwanted memories and thoughts continue to niggle away at us endlessly?

Payana

This new sculptural piece, made over a span of 40 days in the artist's studio in Sagara may be considered to be the piece de resistance of the show. Made using an antique bullock cart, old household chattel, and over a 150 kamblis (local rough, hand woven sheep wool blankets) this sculpture appears to be a cart in preparation for a long journey perhaps into the unknown.

The cart seems to be overflowing with mysteriously shrouded objects recognizable by their shape...while some of the heavier pieces like a cupboard and a stool are wedged in the cart, some other lighter objects like coconuts, firewood, clothes and utensils seem to be flying out, seemingly resisting being herded together for the journey. The objects float in and around the larger cart as if caught in the enormous flood of time. An old grandfather clock that chimes relentlessly and a lantern that causes swaying shadows to loom around the piece animate the installation by their suggestion of movement.

Thirteenth Day

It is believed that on the thirteenth day after death, the soul starts its journey towards its home (brahman). On that day, the deceased's favorite food is prepared and distributed amongst well-wishers. Food is an integral part of most death rituals and ceremonies. Anna (rice/food) carries an enormous ritualistic and everyday significance in Indian customs. Several important rituals are marked with the use of cooked and uncooked rice: when a baby is old enough to consume solids, the first solid meal that he is fed is soft, steamed rice, this is followed by a celebration to mark the baby's first step towards adulthood; a child's education is initiated with a ritual of ‘teaching’ the child to write her first alphabets on a plate of uncooked rice; sacred drawings of symbolic significance are drawn with rice on the floor on wedding days; uncooked rice is filled in the mouth of the dead as the body is prepared for the last rites...these are only some of the most important and oft-practiced rituals involving anna. This particular single channel video, projected on a surface of muthadaelle (dried and compressed flame-of-the-forest leaves, traditionally used to serve food on public occasions) was inspired by the role of food in death rituals.

This piece was first shown while the artist was on a residency in Berne, in 2006.

What do you do to a dead object?

Slideshow of the photo documentation of a site specific ‘happening’ (in Japan, made while the artist was on a residency at the Arcus Project, Moriya, Japan in 2007) which involves the ritualistic burial of an old car, shrouded in dead leaves. One enters the work by descending a flight of stairs excavated into the earth — a pathway symbolic of life's descent after the ascent from the process of birth to living.

Cleansing

...is a single-channel video projection of a video projection of a video projection of a performance.

“I started with shaving off my head in an attempt to get rid myself of the unwanted. Shaving one's head is often associated with death rites and ritual ablutions. I then projected video footage of garbage disposal and recycling units onto my shaven head, which in turn was recorded and projected into a WC bowl being flushed. A recording of this projection is finally projected onto a wall of material being prepared for recycling (in this case, on a wall of old newspapers). In this manner there is a gradual progression towards a symbolic cleansing of unwanted memories and thoughts and ‘flushing’ them out of my mind.”

This piece was made in late 2007, while the artist was on a residency at the Arcus Project, Moriya, Japan.

Known to Unknown

Photo-documentation of the site-specific, ash-on-wall performance-based installation first produced in 2006.

Srinivasa Prasad

Visit the artist section for more information on the artist's practice