The Tribune
February 1, 2017
by Nonika Singh
Man is mortal…is no revelation. But when an artist brings this fact to life, when he dips into his bank of memories; his childhood years, his culture, history, poetry and above all recreates it all with an innovative skill acquired over decades, the net result is as astounding as awe-inspiring.A song, a story… is not just the name of Sudarshan Shetty’s film that he showcased during a slide lecture show organised by Punjab Lalit Kala Akademy at Randhawa auditorium. In a way, these two words sum up his work. Yet, tomes could be written to elucidate his lexicon that imbibes architecture, words, filmmaking, photographs and more. One of the best known names of contemporary art, also the curator of the ongoing Kochi Muziris Biennale, Shetty’s oeuvre is as profound as complex. Be it his installations or films, he believes in negotiating with multiple narratives. The multi-layered epic and not just the singular drama of human life is what he is interested in. Engaging constantly with frailty of human existence, man’s mortality, however, he sees as a condition for regeneration and in his own way completes the cycle of life.
Inevitable life
While capturing death rituals and death memorials in his works, while putting together broken moments, the idea is to restructure it all. So, three photographs of his self reinventing the death ritual, what also finds expression is the broken ghada. Assembled back as one piece, it becomes as important a rallying point. Preoccupation with inevitable reality of life he explains thus, “Every negotiation with the world can be looked at from this vantage view. Even if you buy a bar of soap, along with it comes the promise of youth. In fact, the entire advertisement world requires suspension of disbelief and yet we buy into it.”
Artist’s reflection
But art too straddles real and surreal… only Shetty thinks it must reflect the world, its concerns and needs, and views himself as someone who mediates within its contradictions. Indeed, much of what we are stems from what we were. He goes back to history, culture and his roots, ‘nigun’ poetry in particular. Why, his chosen medium too is recycled wood! For each piece of door, window that he has been collecting for years comes with its own story that could often be encrypted on it as few words such as BALLB.Words telling a fictional story invariably become a leitmotif in his works: like these 13 doors represent 13 days of mourning during which it is believed that a soul finds its way out from mortal earth. Personal memories too play a part. So the film on the fast vanishing chawls of Mumbai, where incidentally he grew up, objects from his childhood such as the utensils and the sewing machine that his sister worked on find space. Objects have a significant place in his creative expression. “Objects represent our mortality, more than our biological condition. Be it our obsession for gathering beautiful objects or a big house, the ephemeral nature is self-evident.” Art might be moving from self to the universal, he is not making any grandiose statement, rather states modestly, “This is my way of creating art. And there are many ways of doing it.” Each viewer too is free to interpret it. So the film “A Song A story” that has been inspired by a Kannada story that stayed in his mind, and has many metaphysical moments, can have as many meanings as the viewer can see in it. The obvious one is that if you have a song to sing and a story to tell, don’t suppress it within.
Tell tale
At one point in his life, he wanted to be a filmmaker and is mighty impressed by Mani Kaul, an artist’s way of film-making he agrees is entirely different. Not only does Shetty juxtapose his process of creating sculptural installations with the film, but also breaks the linear narrative. Since the beauty of epic lies in retelling, he shoots the same story in different ways and projects it on more than one channel. Multiplicity is what he thrives in and multiplies the pleasure for art-lovers, not just at the surface level but profoundly. Any wonder that on Monday evening Chandigarh’s cognoscenti was as engaged as intrigued!