Blast From The Past - Art Is Only A Part Of The

“Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering, these are noble pursuits, and necessary to sustain life.

But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.” Said the late Robin Williams and his words couldn’t have been more true.

Many in todays world migrate towards art. Why? Because art provides freedom like none other. Some play music, some dance, some paint and much more. It provides a canvas for people especially women who have difficulty breaking norms. Art plays such an important part in the society but sadly not many acknowledge it. Hence, to take people back to the time when they dipped their fingers and painted without a care in the world, Brew brings back one such artist who paints her heart out and who’s paintings express her better than words…

Akila Sridhar

She’s one of the fore front runner categories of artists who are multi-talented yet grounded, but check them out for yourself and come to the same conclusion as I did, filled with awe and praise for the lady of the hour herself –Bianca Joesph.

Having worked with most of the galleries in Chennai- Apparao art gallery, Gallery Veda, Forum art gallery, the art41 poet garden- where she has been plenty exposed to Indian contemporary art and is now keen on expanding her horizon even further. In other simple words, she has also been regularly travelling to France since her young age and likely a lot of European art influence comes from visiting the galleries, learning about art and inspirations from there. To which I retorted with- “had travelling to a place been enough for improving exponentially in talents then the world wouldn’t be here- we need the skill, determination to make something good out of what we’ve been served and we need clarity. She does, she is and she has.”

What is the concept behind this art work of yours in particular?

The overall concept revolves around defense mechanisms based on Sigmund Freud’s theory; coupled with problems that exist in reality that are most often brushed away by society, a society that encourages repressing of emotions. Mental hygiene is as important as physical hygiene. In my series I merely point out the existence of troubles and emotional turmoil drawing from personal experience, the personal experience being the loss of a loved one at a young age. The pain attached to mental traumas are equal to any physical pain that one experiences. Thus, the point I try to make here is that one must give these emotions the importance that it needs, deal with the consequences rather than suppressing it or brushing it away. Living in denial, projecting it on other areas of their lives are some of the defense mechanisms that the mind adapts in order to deal with the pain. Painting is my Catharsis. “Sublimation is one of the defense mechanisms derived by Freud. It takes place when we manage to displace our emotions into a constructive rather than destructive activity (A. Freud, 1936). This might, for example, be artistic.”

The painting is cordoned off by dividers made from PVC pipes to create a sense of privacy. The sounds that play in the background are sounds of a person swimming, a car crash and a piano composition of mine, arranged together in a dramatic sequence.

FIRST CIRCLE The first Circle is the ‘Memory Pond’, a white circle covered with nails that’s laid on the ground, with traces of flower cut outs that are either fading or fully present representing good memories and fading memories. The nails either pierce through these flower silhouettes indicating a good memory turning bad or the nails go around it leaving the good memory untouched. Upon viewing the reel one can see me stand on this memory pond, witnessing pain within the closed edges of the view master.

SECOND CIRCLE The second circle, ‘The Aquarium’ is a literal depiction of the aquarium that I’ve visited as a child. The painting depicts people engaged in prayerful gestures. Now these references to the spiritual attachment that most people develop after a traumatic event such as loss, something I’ve experienced first hand. It also highlights a certain level of hypocrisy. In the reel the painting is enclosed by a black grill, the design adopted from the grill that surrounds my swimming pool.

THIRD CIRCLE The third circle, ‘Comfort Zone’ is a hoop with a lamb sitting on the inside. This refers to regression which is another defense mechanism where one resorts to a habit or possession from their childhood, e.g. comfort food. In the reel the lamb is caught between strings of blue thread.

FOURTH CIRCLE The fourth is ‘Stability’ where a woman is seen falling down steps that seem to be coming from nowhere, or the middle of a void. She seems to be holding on to a rope that appears from the bottom of the composition, a sense of uncertainty but some form of support. This again creates a contrast in the reel with the nude female body falling without any stability or support, slipping down and succumbing to her fall much like we do with the many problems of our mind, a gradual hard decent.

FIFTH CIRCLE The fifth circle is ‘Wall Flower’. The painting depicts a woman diving into a small circular enclosed pool. This talks about how we too dive into situations without knowing the depth of the issue itself. In the reel the female figure is in the nude shown diving into a cemented box with wallflowers on its surface. The wall flowers indicate a personality type.

SIXTH CIRCLE The sixth circle is the ‘Ostrich Theory’. The Ostrich theory: The “ostrich effect” is the avoidance of apparently risky financial situations by pretending they do not exist. There’s also the saying, “Don’t be an ostrich and hide your head in the sand.” The version on the reel shows a nude woman burying her head in the sea. The nudity that is opposed by the literal representation of an ostrich not only directly tells people that denial is something that we all indulge in but also speaks about the sexualizing of something as normal as the female body.

SEVENTH CIRCLE The seventh circle is the ‘Reel’, a blown-up version of the view master’s reel. The squares of the reel are seven in number (standard number of images on a reel) and represent the seven colours of the rainbow. In the center is a whirlpool that can be rotated. In the reel, the image poses the question “did you like watching”, forcing the viewer to feel like that of a voyeur for that moment. The View Master not only holds significance from my childhood but also has an innocent value to it. When one picks it up hoping to reminisce childhood memories they are struck with images of the painful reality, that’s tied up with male gaze and the voyeuristic tendency of the society. All the paintings have the element of water that ties it all together.

Some of the artworks have dashes that is drawn from Indian art, a pattern of sorts, symbolizing the monotony of life. “Viewing Sublimare”, the title, talks about the action of the viewer who “views” my sublimation, “sublimare” being the Latin origin of the word. “Viewing” also being a wordplay on the center piece of my project, the view-master.

Do you feel that it’s important to convey your own beliefs and opinions within your art? And should your work therefore be viewed as autobiographical?

My works of art can definitely be seen as autobiographical especially the view master. Each installation is a reflection of my conscious and or subconscious, whether I want to admit it or not. I learn through experience and the artistic revelations are full of different kinds of experiences- be it spiritual, religious or even personal. I’ve encountered my fair share of tragedy, obstacles and blessings. One simply has to seize the Opportunity where it chooses to show present itself and will have to make a pattern of events as they make sense. It’s how one marks their place in today’s millennial generation. Often, these experiences are my teachers, my influences and messages in my art. The beauty of darkness is that it forces you to create light. Not all art works need to be defined or guided by darkness and not all hearts are meant to be broken to create art. But there is a separate unbounded joy that comes out of creating something so pure, so beautiful from a place of darkness and sorrow. When you are guided to creativity therein lies true freedom. I always learn a lot about myself and what’s going on inside me subconsciously through the process of conceiving and producing my art. To me, art is something really personalfor the creator and the spectator, to each is their own and that is the unbounded beauty of art.

Does true society’s reaction to an artist, worry you? Have you been in any such situation?

I always get asked - “Is this a lucrative choice?”

To be honest, yes it bothers me. But I’ve learnt that you cannot win everyone over and you don’t have to convince everyone, as long as you know what you want, the world is your canvas. It’s a daily struggle to not let it get to you, but we all have our days. I don’t think anyone really understands what an art student or an artist in progress goes through. It’s the lack of clarity that brings about trouble. I don’t know where I’d be or what I’d be working on in a couple of months. But in a society filled with graduates and straight jacket mentality, it’s difficult to paint my world in colours they’d understand. I don’t have a set schedule or planned sketch to show, but I have situations which need my spontaneous decisions and creative solutions to tackle problems. It’s in the ‘heat of the moment’ sort of a field which I’ve chosen especially when it comes to freelancing projects that I take up, and not everyone can wrap their mind around it with ease. Sometimes I’ve realized that one just has to cut the rest of the world out in order to listen to the inner self/ voice and let that guide you.