Translating an imagery into art work is among poet, short story writer and playwright Pratibha Nandakumar’s many talents. Her multi-media installation Teredashte Bagilu , a title of one of Jayanth Kaikini’s short stories, will be on view at The Bangalore Literature Festival. “A line from that work roughly translated into English means ‘a door is as much as you open’. The line has a layered meaning,” says Pratibha. “Jayanth’s works are full of metaphors and similes that he takes to a different level. It is always a pleasure to read his works.”
However, this is not the first time that Pratibha has made an art work of Kaikini’s writing. “I had earlier done collages but those were responses from being a friend of Kaikini. Both Jayanth and I are artists but we didn’t pursue it professionally.”
Pratibha goes onto speak about the inspiration behind Teredashte Bagilu. “I have always been fascinated by his imagery of a door. So the installation is of a door and there is also a video that runs on loop. The act of opening a door and entering has many meanings. What I have done in this installation is to give an experience of what it means to open a door, watch the 10-minute video, listen to some of the imagery, and then exit.” The installation will be housed within a confined space so as not to be disturbed by the going-ons of the festival. “It is a minimalistic installation. I want to see the response of the people at the Literature Festival and based on that I will take it to the gallery and do a full-fledged work.”
Karnataka, Bengaluru: 02/06/2016: Jayant Kaikini, Poet, lyricist and writer in Bengaluru on June 02, 2016. Photo : K. Bhagya Prakash.
Pratibha speaks of her admiration for Kaikini’s mastery of describing seemingly mundane everyday objects and occurrences through vivid and unique imagery, including other descriptions of a door that are truly unique. “I have also written an article for a Kannada magazine on Kaikini’s imagery of a child in his poetry.”
Teredashte Bagilu will be presented at BLF from October 28 to October 29 at The Lalit Ashok, Bangalore.
