I arrived at this body of work after encountering the concept of palindromes. Palindromes are recursive words that employ an inverted pattern of repetition; they read the same forwards and backwards without a change in meaning. This process of recursion, thus, is devoid of a transformation in our understanding of what the word signifies.
The world of material things, however, is seldom like that. Each cycle of repetition goes through stages of suspension, degeneration, and regeneration— transformation being a key aspect of these repeated occurrences.
My work is suspended at the juncture of degeneration and regeneration, and repetition and change, as they occur in mundane, domestic acts. Pigments acquired from a grinding stone serve as the material I use to draw a stone on paper; a chrysanthemum, symbolising loss, takes the place of a fallen tooth; and a tin storage box restores significance to fallen strands of hair. Here, the text does not interrupt the visual narrative, but chains one thought to the next. Ultimately, my work seeks to question our existing notions of creation itself (often seen as isolated acts of genius), centering instead, the transformation of materials, ideas, and thoughts that go into the creative process.
Palindrome
(Word or phrase which reads the same backwards as forward)
A snail centipede of 40 legs and 2 antennas crawling on the floor,
Disinterestedly, I take a white paper and chase it back to photograph it against a white background.
I click many photographs; some blurry and few average.
Then, holding it, I throw it out of the window.
A hostile act.
The tickle I felt on my membranes.
I have been wondering since, about my process behind this ephemeral act.
What do I offer?
Goddess Parvati made a human form from the bathing oil and dirt scrubbed away from her skin; she breathed life into it.
The Ship of Theseus is a thought experiment that raises the question of whether an object that has had all of its components replaced remains fundamentally the same object. Thomas Hobbes introduced a further puzzle, wondering what would happen if the original planks that were gathered up after they were replaced were used to build a second ship.
The thoughts of the artist (Ms. Kiran Mungekar) are very deep-rooted and indulge me to think of things from a different perspective.