India

1997

Artist in Residency in India – Winter Snow Blizzard in Baker Lake to Warm Sunny Bhopal and Chennai (Madras) 

From January to February in 1997, I taught printmaking to 13 Inuit artists in Baker Lake, Nunavut, Northern Canada. Most days there was stormy weather with blowing ice crystals. After six weeks of giving instruction, I managed to fly out of Baker Lake just before a blizzard and go to Chennai (Madras) India, via Vancouver and Kuala Lumpur.

Baker Lake is a small Inuit community of 1300 inhabitants. A little boy riding a bicycle on the frozen surface of the Lake. People dig two-meter holes for ice fishing during the winter.

In Chennai (Madras), India, Sarala’s art centre director Bishwajit Bannerjee gave me a letter to a Bhopal-based painter who then introduced me to Bharat Bhavan Art Complex in Bhopal. When I arrived there, they were putting up the exhibition of the 4th Bharat Bhavan International Biennial of Prints. Fortunately, one of my prints was included in the show and I could attend the inauguration.

On March 1st, I moved into the residence of Bharat Bhavan (with new bedsheets and a mosquito net), where three young artists were living. The next day, all of a  sudden, I got an eye ache and dizziness, then abdominal pain, and headache a couple of days later. 

Bharat Bhavan Art Complex in Bhopal by the Upper Lake (1997). It consists of various art studios, galleries, theatres and a chai cafe.

Despite having initial health problems, I was able to start to create works with some help; a senior member of the graphic studio Dinu Bhai brought me interesting fabric dyes from Chowk Bazar market (an old local market).

There were quite a few birds flying about in the studio and dropping their nest materials on my painted plexiglass plates during the night. Insects were also traveling on the plates leaving their footsteps. I collected little flowers, petals and twigs in the yard to compose monotype works (in a way, working with those birds and insects). Then I printed on good-quality handmade Pondicherry paper.

The ceramic studio by the lake (left) and the outdoor acid room for printmaking (right).

After working in the Graphic studio for three weeks, I left Bhopal for Chennai (Madras) by train, Tamil Nadu Express, with twenty complete works. Bishwajit Bannerjee said, “let’s have a solo show!”. So, his Sarala’s Art Centre held my solo exhibition at ABN-Amro Bank Gallery in Chennai (Madras). At the opening ceremony on April 7th, what surprised me was they served French table wine ( it may sound no surprise but was quite unusual at that time in the place of chai!). I performed a live SUMI-E (ink drawing) demo using a natural fibre broom found in a local market as a substitute for a Japanese brush.  The curious local audience made it a much more engaging event.

The live demo in ABN-Amro Bank Gallery (left) and Sarala’s art centre in a historical building (1997) (middle and right).