Eerily empty streets, days of isolation that seemed never-ending, and heart-wrenching accounts of death from loved ones and strangers—the two years of the pandemic-induced lockdown pushed some of us over the edge. Most individuals lived through that time while experiencing angst or discomfort in some form, and with varying degrees.
Amid those times, Kolkata-based curator Ayan Mukherjee admits to have started visualising surrealistic and abstract images about morbidity—a murder of crows flying around, funeral pyres, etc. It was during this rough patch that Mukherjee recalls experiencing the feeling of “dying before dying” that he conveyed his feelings to artist Saumik Chakraborty (47) and with careful deliberation, the duo decided to embark upon a two-year-long journey of curating ‘Paradise Lost’. The exhibition featuring about 60 works by Chakraborty was inaugurated at Gallery 1000A, Lado Sarai, on Saturday.
“‘Paradise Lost’ originates from my experience during the first wave of COVID-19. It was a time of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty,” shares 31-year-old Mukherjee, whose thoughts, views, and emotions meet Chakraborty’s artistic sensibilities and creative techniques. “The kind of images he creates, his colour palette, the psychological space—I knew he was the right person to talk to,” he adds, acknowledging that he chooses the artist only after he finalised the narrative of his project.
As you step into the Gallery for the exhibition, you will find yourself in a room full of works—about nine frames that are neatly stacked to form a pyramid-like scheme—made using the printmaking technique of Linocut. Each piece is in hues of brown and black, with figures that seem to resemble weapons. “I have painted these weapons as per the photos of ancient weaponries and arms. I am of the belief that the language human beings created first was the language of violence—this has been common since ancient times,” explains Chakraborty, who has tried to create letters of the alphabets through the images of these weapons.
It is true that the process of working on this exhibition started during the pandemic. However, the themes explored here go beyond that particular time. Social and political issues, hardships of reality, war, and emotions of loneliness, agony, and morbidity form the core of this series. In fact, in one of the works, Chakraborty and Mukherjee use images from the invasion of Ukraine to depict the destruction that battles can cause. In another work titled ‘Faces, I see’, five structures that hang high on the wall seem to resemble distorted faces.
“It is the face of the common man,” comments Chakraborty, who accepts being influenced by the issues around us. “This is how we look after experiencing all the struggle and toil,” he continues, adding that for him, the process of putting all of this together also roots from the perception of the system towards the common man, which is of negligence. “For the system, we are just a few numbers, a vote… that is all,” he concludes.
CHECK IT OUT
WHAT: ‘Paradise Lost’
WHERE: Gallery 1000A, Lado Sarai
WHEN: Till October 10