Our project is moving in a direction where we collect conversations with different people from kochi, over food. yesterday, i spoke with a local artist called suresh while we had black tea and shared a bidi.
We plan to represent these conversations in the form of postcards, so i decided to start some iterations.
below is a summary of the conversation and the images are what i drew later.
*******
Me: wow! nice studio!
Mr S: its a small one, but the energy is great!
Me: desmond, sent me here.
Mr S: oh yeah, hes a good friend of mine.
Me: can i talk to you for sometime?
Mr: sure, lets talk over tea, maybe we can eat something too.
(walk to small tea shop closeby, the area is mattancherry, he orders tea. black for himself, milk chai for me, he lights a bidi and we sit down at a small table)
Me: there were a lot of elephant paintings i saw in your studio. why are you so interested in elephants?
Mr S:haha! ive been working on this series for 7 years now. i draw only elephants. not normal black, or grey, not even white ones, but in different colours, in different postures.
Me: hmm, why so?
Mr S: haha everyone asks me that. at times i tell people, that the elephant's trunk is so unique, or its the biggest land animal. ill tell you tt something interesting,i think elephants are socialist animals, when i kid is born, every mother takes care of the kid. we have a lot to learn from them dont we? and you might not agree,but my aim is not to represent elephants. i am representing humans. this is me dream for the world, free people, happy peaceful people, elephants without chains.
Me:are you interested in politics?
Mr S: yes, sure im very interested in politics. but i dont contest elections or anything. im saying what i need to say through the images im making.my paintings are for the people. i dont agree with people who say communism is an old concept.
Me: kerala has a history of communism right?
Mr S: yeah that might have been there earlier. but now its become bureaucratic. its not communism.
do you know 80 years back common people didnt have clothes to wear in kerala!?
Me: really? sounds impossible to me.
Mr S: no im telling you only the rajas had some kind of long coats, the common people had nothing much at all. if they wanted to cover themselves up, they had to pay taxes!
Me:what? why?
Mr S: thats how the maharajas rule was.
Me: do these things that youre concerned with figure in your paintings?
Mr S:yes. i paint freedom. ultimate freedom. dancing elephants. jumping elephants. i think thats how the world should be.
Me:what are your views on the biennale?
Mr S: i think those guys are doing a corporate event. the biennale is not for the people. there is no local representation. there are so many local artists. no one is displaying there. we are planning to hold a parallel event on 12/12/12 where we local artists will talk about our views.
Me:i saw a few bob marley posters around. whats that about?
Mr S: i believe in bob marley's philosophy. his music came to me 30 years ago. we used to go to fort kochi to find cassetes and we'd listen to his music. his music was music of the opressed people. it had a fighting spirit.every two years, we organise a bob marley remembering event, and i read my poems there and give talks about my philosophies.
this is an excerpt from one poem i wrote last year.
" say no barricade
say no border
say no fort
say no force
say no war
hence only peace
and
freedom
of everyone"
Me: do you think people are opressed in kerala?
Mr V: must be.
Me: what about other communities?
Mr v: yeah there are lots of different communities here. there are a handful of places like kochi in the world. there are jews, muslims, malayalis, christians everyone. i have hundreds of friends around here. from all communities. you should come here in the evening. we have a session of music and lot of my friends gather and talk and sing.
Me: sure i would like to come for that!
Mr S: you must.see you for now.
Me: bye.
*****
We plan to represent these conversations in the form of postcards, so i decided to start some iterations.
below is a summary of the conversation and the images are what i drew later.
*******
Me: wow! nice studio!
Mr S: its a small one, but the energy is great!
Me: desmond, sent me here.
Mr S: oh yeah, hes a good friend of mine.
Me: can i talk to you for sometime?
Mr: sure, lets talk over tea, maybe we can eat something too.
(walk to small tea shop closeby, the area is mattancherry, he orders tea. black for himself, milk chai for me, he lights a bidi and we sit down at a small table)
Me: there were a lot of elephant paintings i saw in your studio. why are you so interested in elephants?
Mr S:haha! ive been working on this series for 7 years now. i draw only elephants. not normal black, or grey, not even white ones, but in different colours, in different postures.
Me: hmm, why so?
Mr S: haha everyone asks me that. at times i tell people, that the elephant's trunk is so unique, or its the biggest land animal. ill tell you tt something interesting,i think elephants are socialist animals, when i kid is born, every mother takes care of the kid. we have a lot to learn from them dont we? and you might not agree,but my aim is not to represent elephants. i am representing humans. this is me dream for the world, free people, happy peaceful people, elephants without chains.
Me:are you interested in politics?
Mr S: yes, sure im very interested in politics. but i dont contest elections or anything. im saying what i need to say through the images im making.my paintings are for the people. i dont agree with people who say communism is an old concept.
Me: kerala has a history of communism right?
Mr S: yeah that might have been there earlier. but now its become bureaucratic. its not communism.
do you know 80 years back common people didnt have clothes to wear in kerala!?
Me: really? sounds impossible to me.
Mr S: no im telling you only the rajas had some kind of long coats, the common people had nothing much at all. if they wanted to cover themselves up, they had to pay taxes!
Me:what? why?
Mr S: thats how the maharajas rule was.
Me: do these things that youre concerned with figure in your paintings?
Mr S:yes. i paint freedom. ultimate freedom. dancing elephants. jumping elephants. i think thats how the world should be.
Me:what are your views on the biennale?
Mr S: i think those guys are doing a corporate event. the biennale is not for the people. there is no local representation. there are so many local artists. no one is displaying there. we are planning to hold a parallel event on 12/12/12 where we local artists will talk about our views.
Me:i saw a few bob marley posters around. whats that about?
Mr S: i believe in bob marley's philosophy. his music came to me 30 years ago. we used to go to fort kochi to find cassetes and we'd listen to his music. his music was music of the opressed people. it had a fighting spirit.every two years, we organise a bob marley remembering event, and i read my poems there and give talks about my philosophies.
this is an excerpt from one poem i wrote last year.
" say no barricade
say no border
say no fort
say no force
say no war
hence only peace
and
freedom
of everyone"
Me: do you think people are opressed in kerala?
Mr V: must be.
Me: what about other communities?
Mr v: yeah there are lots of different communities here. there are a handful of places like kochi in the world. there are jews, muslims, malayalis, christians everyone. i have hundreds of friends around here. from all communities. you should come here in the evening. we have a session of music and lot of my friends gather and talk and sing.
Me: sure i would like to come for that!
Mr S: you must.see you for now.
Me: bye.
*****
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