The self does not exist in isolation as it is shaped by a fabric of emotional bonds that nurture it and give it a specific character. Alamu Kumaresan’s works pay homage to these others who shape the self. Her works capture images of her friends and associates who have played a significant role in her life. To create these images, apart from painting, she works with laborious techniques such as stitching, embroidery and crotchet. These techniques not only help her play with colour, texture and pattern but also connect her with her loved ones, notably her mother and grandmother, who were adept at stitching. Her work on view in this exhibition continues her personal story depicting a moment of utter abandon as she floats on water. Through works such as these, she explores the varied layers of dreams, memories, experiences and longings that compose the self.

The environment in which we grew up and the home that nurtured us in our formative years leave an indelible mark on our beings. Koil Pitchai Prabhakar’s paintings revisit his childhood in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu and capture quintessential images of the region. His works capture the details of the environment ranging from the characteristic bluish whitewash paint and architectural elements to the play of light and the material culture of the people. His works emerge from a sense of personal nostalgia but transcend this aspect to draw out the larger changes taking place in the rural socio-cultural fabric caused by migration to cities and the influx of modern technology in everyday life. Documenting his own journey as an individual and the transformation of a place of over time, his works connect with every individual, making them dwell on their own rootedness in place and culture or the consequent lack of it.

Rohini Mani’s works are intensely personal in nature and emerge from her own experiences of living in a society that equates beauty with certain pre-defined attributes. The prejudices she faced as a dark-complexioned individual drew her to self-portraits- a powerful tool through which she could recover the agency of self-representation from society.

Her works in this exhibition engage further with representational politics by probing into the roots of Indian beauty stereotypes. Here, she combines her own portrait with the images of Ravi Varma, whose images serve as golden standards of womanhood, to unmask the socio-cultural constructs surrounding beauty. Yet like a balloon that expands its inner space to find its presence in the world, her works also argue that it is possible to organically assert one’s inner identity. Thus, Rohini’s works encourage viewers to question the world we live in while also giving them hope that it is possible to overcome the prejudices of the world through the strength of the self.

Drawn to landscapes from his student days, R Solairaj uses this genre to project his voice as an artist, activist and social observer who probes into the varied politics associated with land. Some of his works are inspired by his observation of the ecological changes incited by developmental politics taking place in his native city Madurai and Chennai, where he studied. Simultaneously, his works such as Fire is not a Fire depicting the Keezhvenmani massacre, focus on the politics of class and caste as it plays out through land that is perceived as an asset. This work, that emerges from his own visits to the site of violence, compliments Blue Journey that speaks of his transition into an artist-activist. Through such works, the artist highlights the uneven intersections of place, individual need/greed and the aspirations of the community that take place against a backdrop of socio-economic and political forces.

Beyond the perception of the conscious mind lies a vast unchartered terrain of thoughts and impressions that subtly shape our sense of self. K Yuvaraj’s works weave together aspects that emerge from these varied realms of the consciousness. His works begin with the impulses from the world, such as the sounds that he hears and the forms that he sees. From these empirical starting points, his works drift into private worlds of fantasy. His works foreground deeply emotional bonds that defy the grasp of logic, such as the ties between humans and animals and those between parents and children. Inspired by his own pet and child, his works capture the magic of these relationships through simplified childlike forms and gravity defying figures. These, coupled with his use of kaleidoscopic colours, impart a sense of play to his paintings. Melding fantasy and reality, and elements from the conscious and unconscious mind, Yuvaraj’s works evoke liminal states of being.

Vaishnavi Ramanathan

Vaishnavi Ramanathan is a curator based in India and the US. She has a Masters in Art History from Chitrakala Parishath, Bengaluru. She has curated shows in India and abroad and has served as the Senior Curator for Piramal Museum of Art, Mumbai. She also writes on art for various art magazines.

Note from the author - About the book:

A Korean historian has initiated bilateral ties with the government of Ayodhya for possibly connecting the well-known Kim clan of Korea to a legendary queen from India who had established a confederation of merchant states called Kaya in Gimhae, South Korea. Though King Misra of Ayodhya was wary of this claim, he accepted an offer by the Kim clan to erect a memorial in Ayodhya for economic reasons. However, while scrutinizing the facts through field studies, literature survey and historical search it was found that the queen might have been from Madurai, Tamilnadu not, rather than from Ayodhya.

This may look trivial but considering the geopolitical and linguistic nature of Indian statehood, these findings are emotional and controversial. The Korean Connection is a book based on facts and figures of a research conducted over a decade by the author. This will interest not only scholars and historians but anybody interested in Korea and India.

Book 1: Kaya: True story of a Korean affair (English)

Book 2: 김 씨족의 모계혈통은, 인도의 타밀족인 가? 인도와 한국의 고대 연결 이야기 (Hangul)

- Professor Kannan Narayanan

Dr. Kannan Narayanan, a double doctorate holder and a world renowned environmental analytical chemist is also a passionate Korea watcher. While he was employed by the premier Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) in Geoje, Korea for 8 years, he observed the Koreans, their language, their food, customs and art and found close links between Tamilnadu, India and Korea. When he looked around for researchers who might have seen these similarities he found Homer Bezaleel Hulbert an American missionary, journalist, and political activist who wrote in 1905 a book entitled, "A comparative grammar of the Korean language and the Dravidian languages of India". Nearly, 7 decades after Hulbert, Morgan E. Clippinger have given a detailed comparison of Korean and Dravidian vocabulary in his article "Korean and Dravidian: Lexical Evidence for an Old Theory" (1984). Being a native speaker of Tamil, an author and researcher Dr. N. Kannan could easily mined the data from these two ancient cultures and compare them in a scholarly way. InKo Chennai in their project called "Turtle Trail" have given him a platform to interact with Korean and Indian scholars on this subject. He edited a bilingual treatise on Korea Tamil relationship in 2016 and published a book in Tamil in 2018 which became an instàit and best seller. He has authored an English book on this subject entitled Kaya - the first true story of a Korean affair. With the help of Ms. Bhavani Ravichandran, he has translated his Tamil book into Hangul for Korean readers. Thus, an ancient passionate story is revisited in this book for a clear understanding of history which binds these ancient nations. This book is a joy for those who are interested in Korea and India.