The sea gleams in the distance, an undulating, foam-topped layer of periwinkle and baby blue, sandwiched between azure skies and tawny sands. If you look closely you will spot the silhouettes of beach frolickers and a canoodling couple, as ubiquitous a sight at the Marina Beach, as the garbage that speckles the shore. In the centre of the image, is a simulated version, of what could have been: a grey pyramid studded with two rows of white, porcelain wash basins.
Artist Gigi Scaria’s initial plan of creating an installation for the Goethe Institut’s , DAMnedART project, may not have fructified (site clearances did not happen), but the idea still lingers, and vividly. The animated version of what would have been an on-site sculpture along the Cooum River and estuary, titled ‘Source of a river in descending order’, depicts water running through the basins, getting muddier and muddier as it journeys downwards.
There is a hierarchy of sorts that exists when it comes to the distribution of water, points out Scaria. The clear water on top goes to the people who can afford it. The rest get the poor leavings, the myth of trickle-down economics reinforced even with natural resources. “Water has that sort of politics,” says the artist, known for his environmentally and socially engaged artwork that assumes a variety of forms including painting, sculpture, photographs and videos. “I have never restricted myself to any medium,” says Scaria, who began experimenting with videos post a stint at the Michelangelo Pistoletto Foundation in Italy through an Inlaks Scholarship in 2002.
In the catalogue essay for Scaria’s 2014 solo exhibition titled ‘Dust’, cultural theorist, poet and curator, Ranjit Hoskote describes his work as a, “continuing meditation on the vexed relationship between human ambition and the natural world,” adding that, “one of the primary themes of Scaria’s art: the crisis that has been forced upon the planet as a result of the reckless onslaught that humankind has visited on its surroundings at a constantly accelerating pace since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution.”
A quick glance at his website reveals as much. From video art titled, ‘Dialogue on bilateral issues’ and ‘Political Realism’, to a wood, metal and glass sculpture called ‘Open Doors, Closed Boundaries’ and a painting titled, ‘Absence of an architect’, the ideas that emerge are ever present and searingly real. “I often work on different aspects of social structure and spaces,” says the artist. “My interest has been in relation to space, how it is constructed in the mind as well as physically. You see the layers once you start moving in it.”
Mapping the urban canvas
Scaria was born in the village of Kothanalloor, in Kerala’s Kottayam district, and spent his formative years here. The lure of art came early, “I used to reproduce Renaissance paintings,” he remembers, the outcome of which would often be published in Malayalam magazine Bhashaposhini .
He went on to complete a Bachelor’s degree in painting from the College of Fine Arts, Thiruvananthapuram and a Master’s, also in painting, from Jamia Millia University, New Delhi. The move from what he says was once a “provincial” State to the country’s capital, “a microcosm of India,” created not just a spatial and cultural shift but an artistic one. Delhi became a muse of sorts, and he began sketching abstract, layered maps of the city. “When we look at a map from a distance it gives the effect of colourful, abstract territories. But upon close observation we come to know that each and every abstract form and line has a place to lead us and a purpose to exist in,” he writes in an article posted on his website.
The concept of mapping territory expanded into the mapping of culture, environment, hierarchies and community systems. “This is where my present engagement of social mapping begins,” says Scaria. And this has been core to much of his work. Take, for instance, his 2015 solo titled, ‘The Ark’ that consists of a series of artworks, inspired by the biblical story of Noah’s ark built to contain life while floods ravaged the world outside. “The ark was a comment on ecology and current reality but approached from a mythical and philosophical perspective,” he explains, adding that there was also a migratory aspect to it. Also, a sort of renaissance, “once you come out of the ark, you have to come back and start afresh. So there is also an undoing process”.
