When Puducherry-based artist Kirti Chandak found that 25 and 50 paise coins were no longer being accepted, it set her thinking about the ‘devaluation of money.’
“What happens when a piece of metal moulded into a coin loses its potency and once again becomes equivalent to the metal cost it had? Today we hold on desperately to money, and then one day money itself becomes useless,” she says.
It led her to design an installation, ‘Taka Mati,’ after a Bengali phrase which means ‘money is dust.’
This, and other exhibits form the current show, ‘What Nature Gave Me- Installations and Paintings on Paper Pulp — Part II’ at Tasmai gallery in Advocate Chinna Thambi Street, Kuruchukuppam. The show is a mix of new and earlier works, with the medium of paper pulp being the thread of continuity.
“The works are intended to make people stop and re-look at Nature, acknowledge her seminal role in our life, and rethink the direction the so-called modern developed life is taking,” she says.
The centrepiece of the exhibition is a six feet high cane basket containing ‘leaves’ fashioned out of cloth rag pulp, with an assortment of similarly made seeds, fruits, pods and flowers, signifying the gifts of nature and memories associated with leaves.
Ms. Chandak has been working with paper pulp since 1998, and found that cloth rag pulp best captures the filigree-like veins of the leaf. The cane basket has been made by Venkatesh who sells his cane ware by the roadside in Puducherry.
One of the exhibits, ‘what the coconut tree gave me’ has been inspired by a tree which was not cut down to make space while Ms. Chandak’s house was being constructed. “It is the easiest thing to cut down a tree. However, the tree turned out to be a treasure house. It created a beautiful atmosphere as part of the house, and gave shelter to birds,” she said.
She was helped in the installation by coconut artist Liyakath Ali Khan.
Exhibits from past shows include the ‘Ascent’ and ‘Descent’ wood-carved ladders. The installation ‘Necessities of Life’ features bags made of paper pulp and gauze cloth, each one standing for the themes: food, shelter, clothing, peace, love, work and freedom.
The show ends with the screening of the film ‘Rivers and Tides’ on artist Andy Goldworthy on May 24, 6 p.m.
The show ends with the screening of the film ‘Rivers and Tides’ on artist Andy Goldworthy tomorrow at 6 p.m.
