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THEINDIANEXPRESS, THURSDAY,JANUARY21,2016

TALKArt,Music, Style,Food

WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

PALLAVICHATTOPADHYAY

A FEWfeet fromthe entrance, visitorsatDelhis National Gallery of Modern Art

(NGMA)aresuddenlysuckedintoanexpan-sivewooden archedstructurewith decora-tive columns,facadeand a longcorridor.Madeusingold woodendismantled struc-tures, itleads into a dwellingplace,a roomreminiscentof theplace artistSudarshanShettygrewup in;hischildhoodwas spentintheinteriors ofa chawlneartheKohinoorMillin Mumbai. Itsa subject thatremainsclosetoShettysheart,andmarksitspresenceinhisshowseverynowandthen.Inhislatestsolo showShoonya Ghar,the 54-year-oldMumbai-basedartist hasattempted torecre-atethe minutestdetailsof hisroomwith thehelp ofhis memory. Thereis a whitemos-quito net on top of thebed, a dressingtable re-pletewith cosmeticprod-ucts, old dust-coveredutensilslinedup ontheshelf,a sidetable full oftoys, besidesan oldtele-visionandaharmonium.

Thegrandioseassem-blage andthe accompa-

nying videos, sculpturalinstallations and photo-graphsat theshowem-body12th centurypoetGorakhnaths poem,Shunyagadhshahar,sha-har ghar basti ( In theempty fort, a city, in thecity,a settlement).

AsShettygoesthroughthesecondlineofthepoem Who sleeps, whowakes? hesays,During theconstructionof a doha,oftenthe firstlineestablishesanimageandthesecondline offers a diverseimage. Thetwomay haveno connection,yetthey cometogether. I have triedto lendin thatnarra-tive,much likea mediator.

Theessenceof theshowis hard todeci-pher without viewing an hour-long filmplayingin anadjacentroom,thatformsthecruxof Shoonya Ghar. Several objectsondisplayatthe show fromthebicycleusedbyone ofthe protagoniststothe wheelchairusedbyanoldmanhavebeenhandpicked

fromscenesin thefilm.Thearchitectural structureplacedneartheentrance wasinitially assembled at anabandoned quarry near Lonavala, in the

westernghatsof Maharashtra, a site Shettygrewveryfondof andintriguedwith.

Even onthe screen,thedramaunfoldswithinit,withvariouscharactersrepresent-ingbirth,death,dance,play,musicand vio-

lencethroughlocaltraditionsof storytelling.Aninfantcanbe seenwalkingpastthe cor-ridor,a young girldancesin thebuildingpremises, a child learns music from herteacher stationednextto herharmonium,love kindles between a couple, andan oldmandies.A separateroomat theexhibithasnineactors on separate televisionscreensgivingfacialexpressionsto theninerasas in-tegralto theIndianclassical tradition,asseenin thefilm.

This is notthe first timethatShettyhasexperimented withpoeticverses. In 2013,Shettysexhibitionfeatured fivehand-carvedreliefsdepicting twoelephants ina jungle,

eachcarryinginventivetranslationsof a singlelinefromapoemby12thcentury SufimysticandmusicianAmir Khusrau,Bahut kathin hai dagar

panghat ki(The path tothewellisrough).

A set of MahatmaGandhis nine black-

and-white historicalim-ages, where the dhoti-clad figure can be seenwalking with a mob,havealsobeenmorphedbythe artist,and ishardtospot untilpointedout.Hehas insertedthe same

architecturalwooden buildingalong withits corridors and facade into the photo-graphs.He says,Hereis animageofhistor-icalevidenceand I havetried to introducetheideaof fictionin it.

Theaimof theshowfor theartisticdirec-tor of the upcoming third edition of theKochi-MuzirisBiennaleis fairlysimple. Iwishthat everybodycomes andtells theirstories.Thisisashowthatneedsalotoftimetosoakin.Itisdifferentandunusualwiththekindof showsI doandthatis whyitis quitesignificant. It doesnt happen thatoftenincontemporaryart, saysthe artist.His latestventurecertainlyqualifiesas evidence infavourof hisstatement.

ShoonyaGharis ondisplay tillMarch6atNGMA,nearIndiaGate,Delhi.

Contact: 23382835

RADHIKASINGH

FOR THE last two years, Dhvani Behl hasavoidedlookingat worksby otherartists.Ilike toworkina vacuumbecausewhenonelooks atwork that oneloves,it inevitablyendsupbecomingpartofyourart,immedi-

ately orfive years later. Instead,the Delhi-based artistseeks inspiration innatureflowers,mostly,and trees,sometimes.

Behlpresentsher ideasthroughwood-

prints, screenprints, and digital artwork,whereeachdesign hasbeen drawnbyhand,inpenandink.AcollectionofherworkswillshowinMumbaifor thefirsttime.The show,titledEnso:TheLanguage ofa Printmaker,starts today and will also showcase wallhangings,stoles, saris and contemporaryclothingthat use herprints.

Growing up, Behl would spend everymonsoonin Goa.Thelandscape madeBehlawareof thepatternsin everyfloweror plant,

whichshehasused asthefocalpointforherarteversince.Butthefloralpatternsandmo-tifsthat Behlcreatesare notperfect. Shebelievesthetracesof a human hand,ratherthan a designcreatedwithhelpfroma ma-chine,makeapieceof artperfect.Thisbeliefisalsowhat promptedhertonameherex-hibitionEnso,whichis Japanesefora hand-drawncircle thatsignifies thebeauty inim-perfection.But Behldoesntextendthis ideatoanything beyondvegetation.My draw-ings of humansor animals areso farfromperfection, theylook likea child hasmadethem,says the26-year-old.

Whileshe hasexperimented with etch-ing,digitaland woodblock, screenprintingremainsspecialtoBehlasitisahardprocessthatinvolvesextensivefine-tuningof thede-signand mixingcoloursvery deliberately.

Herpassionfor screen printing is alsowhat broughtBehlbackto Indiafrom theRhodeIslandSchoolof Design.I wouldneedmuchmoremoney tosetup thesame ma-chinery and space in the US, she says,

adding, Butthe biggerreasonfor comingbackis thatIfeel alot more alivein India.Ensowillbe ondisplayfromJanuary 21

to24 atArtisans, KalaGodha,Mumbai

ANUSHREEMAJUMDAR

THE WORLD shouldthankMadge, AgathaChristies sister forspurring heron towriteherfirst murder mystery, The Mysterious

AffairatStyles,in 1917. DuringWWI,Christiewasworkingas anapothecarysassistant ordispenser, andwas surrounded bydrugs,poisonsand ingredientsthatcouldsavea life,ortakeit away,inan instant.

Shehadalreadypennedafewpoemsandshortstories,and toldher sisterthatshe wasconsideringwritinga detectivestory.Madgethoughtitwouldbe difficultand betChristiethat it would come to nothing so theyoungerwomansetoutto proveherwrong.Beingsurroundedby poisonbottles,she de-

cided thatpoison would be themeansofmurder,writesKathrynHarkupin A is for

Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie. TheBritishauthorwas inDelhi recently fortheHTCrime WritersFestival, whereshe spokeabouteverythingmacabre.

Iwas16whenI knew thatI wantedtostudyscience.I hada passionfor chemistryandwenton tostudyit attheUniversity ofYork. Reading about toxicology, AgathaChristies name kept cropping up in aca-

demicbooks;incrime fiction,shessimplythebestwhenit comes topoisoningpeo-ple, said Harkup, adding that she hasbeenreadingChristiesnovelscloselysinceherteens.

Inherbook,consideredbycriticsasa de-finitive guide to murder in C hristieland,

Harkupnotesthat thedame poisonedmorethan 300charactersin a staggeringbody ofwork 66 detective novels and14 shortstorycollections.

Iappreciatetheway Christiewould giveherreaderstheselittleasides,justa sentencehere, orthere.Sheknewher poisonsandasachemist, itwasa delighttocatchon toherclues,said Harkup.

Inher late thirties,she nowworks asafreelance science communicator.

Herfavourite useof poisonis inChristies35th book, Five Little Pigs. Theuse of hemlock is absolutely spot on,sheadded.

Butsometimes,eventhe Queenof Crimewouldstumble.InTheHouseofLurkingDeath,a Tommyand TuppenceBeresfordmystery

that was published as part of theshort storycollection Partnersin Crime in1929, Christies use of ricin was flawed,saysHarkup.

She had no true crime story to drawfrom,andshe wasusingthatpoisonin herplot nearly 50 years before anybody elsedid,shesaid.

And ifyouthink thatpoisonis mostly awomans modus operandi, Harkupletsyouknowthats hogwash. Historically, therehavebeenmoremalepoisonersthanfemalepoisonersbut giventhefewernumbersoffe-malemurderers, thecase getsmore atten-tionandtheyareperceivedasmorecommonthanthey reallyare,shesaid.

Harkupis nowworkingon hersecondbook, Imperfect Animation: TheScienceandScientistsBehind MaryShelleysFrankenstein.

Howdoes a19-year-oldgirl withno formaleducationknowallof thisstuff?Therewerelotsof experiments of theFrankensteinsortgoingon atthetime.It wasa very excitingtimein science,andShelleysbookencapsu-lates allof thefearsas wellas theoptimismofscienceinthatera,sheadded.

KathrynHarkupinDelhi RaviKanojia

SudarshanShettyat NGMA;(top)a recreationof theartists childhoodroomattheexhibition

27

WeddingVowsON TUESDAY, Bollywood actor AsinThottumkalandMicromaxfounder RahulSharmaexchangedwedding vowsin theCapital. Therewas a church ceremony inthemorning,whichwasfollowedbyatra-ditionalHinduweddingat DusitDevranahotelintheevening.Reportssuggestthatthe actor, known most for her role inGhajini, wore a lehenga, designed bySabyasachi Mukherjee, during theeveningceremony. Itwas attended bycloserelatives and friends,includingac-torAkshayKumar,who tweeted: I am

veryhappy that I playedtheCupid.Thecoupleis expectedto hosta receptioninMumbaion January23.

Words andMoreWITH LITERARY heavyweights likeCanadian poet-novelist MargaretAtwood(pictured), authorRuskinBond,AmericanphotographerSteveMcCurry,Harvard historian Niall Ferguson andStephen Fry as part of its line-up, thenintheditionof JaipurLiteratureFestivalbegins today.Theannualfive-day eventhaslinedup over 222participantsthistime.It will beheldat the 17th centuryDiggi Palace, whichhas hosted it eversinceits inception. Whilebooks andau-thorsmaybe theprimaryattraction,mu-sicisnttoo farbehind. Openingthe fes-tivalwillbeRajasthanimusiciansNathooSolankiand Chugge Khan.

Bridging theGulfTHE PRODUCERSwanted me tomake a film aboutBahrain.But I de-cidedit wouldbe afilm about films.T here are sixmovieswithinthisone,says veteranMalayalam film-

makerTV Chandranabout hislatestven-ture, Mohavalayam(LivesElsewhere).Thefilm looksat thelives ofthosewho crossthe King Fahd Causeway from SaudiArabia everyweekend toreachBahrainfora break,considered oneof themoretolerant and happening countriesintheGulf. Thesix movies thatChandrantalksaboutisa referencetohis useof thefilm-within-a-filmtechnique.The protag-onist,JoseSebastian(Joy Mathew)is amaverickfilmmakerin searchofa certaincharacter,andhissearchendsinaplucky,enigmaticbar owner called Prameela(Mythili).Askedwhyhe choseMythiliforthecomplex roleof Prameela, Chandransays,Because ofthe wayshelistenedtothe script. The supporting castincludesSiddique,RenjiPanicker,SudhishandSajithaMadathil.MJRadhakrishnanscin-ematographyandM Jayachandransmu-sicareinsyncwiththemoodof thefilm.

Chandran,65, whowas inDelhire-cently forthe filmsfirstscreening,hasmadefilmslike Ponthan Mada (1993),Ormakal Undayirikkanam(1995) andDany (2001). Mohavalayam isthe firstIndianfilm tobe shotalmost entirelyinBahrain.TheKeralarelease willbe inmid-February.We areplanningto releasethefilm in severalcities outside Kerala,theGulfregionandsomeEuropeancoun-

tries,saysAnchalSreenath,who co-pro-ducedthe filmalong withBijuKadakkal.

RAJKRISHNANMENON

SNAPSHOTS

Imperfect andBeautiful

ADose of DeathChemistandfirst-timeauthor Kathryn Harkup,whowasin Delhirecently,celebratesthe poisonous penof Agatha Christie

Thisisashowthatneedsalotoftimetosoakin.ItisdifferentandunusualwiththekindofshowsIdoandthatiswhyitis

quite significant.Itdoesnthappenthatoftenincontemporary art

SUDARSHANSHETTY

ARTIST

ForSudarshanShettyslatest exhibitionin Delhi, theartistfinds inspirationin objects,buildings andtheiraccompanying memories

ROAD TOTRANSFORMATIONOlympicgold medalistand transgendericon CaitlynJennerwill penamemoir detailingher life andtransition in a newbook setto be publishedin 2017.ShewillwritethebookwiththehelpofBuzzBissinger,a PulitzerPrize-winning journalist.

The Poetry of ThingsTashiTobgyal

AmitMehra

AdresswithDhvaniBehlsartworkonthefabricJatinderMarwaha

Delhi-basedprintmaker DhvaniBehl,who isshowcasingin Mumbai, seeksinspiration in nature