Baobab core, 2020-21
Pen, gouache, watercolour, pencil, gold leaf on paper 183 x 113 cm In this work we see a woman trying to become one with nature, and succeeding. Years ago I made a few drawings called “trying to become one with nature and failing”, but now she is succeeding, perhaps because she, like nature, is embracing the limitations of her strength. The woman is becoming one with a sort of baobab tree (I loved seeing them in Senegal and how they were used as landmarks: “turn right at the baobab” or “the bus stop is at the baobab”), she is sitting up confidently posing, her legs turning into a cheetah (as my four year old son became obsessed with cheetahs, certain cheetah species in India went extinct). There is a hole inside her, but it is closing up. Her pain is turning into power, she is learning from having fallen and from the sap of the tree a sort of tiny super spider woman emerges. Life is growing from her, although the sleeping snake is also there, ready to mess things up again. The work has become a combination of weakness turning into strength, which is then again potentially undermined. |
〈猴麵包樹中心〉, 2020-21
原子筆、不透明水彩、透明水彩、鉛筆、金箔、紙 183 x 113 cm 多年前,我曾經創作一系列的畫作──《試圖與自然合而為一,卻失敗了》。與該系列不同的是,在這幅作品中,我們看見一名女性嘗試與自然融為一體,並且成功了。或許她就如同大自然一樣,欣然接受自身的侷限性。這名女性正與猴麵包樹合體(我是在塞納加爾認識這種樹。我很喜歡當地人使用猴麵包樹作為地標,像是「看到猴麵包樹向右轉」或是「公車站就在猴麵包樹旁邊」),自信地坐著擺姿勢。她的腿逐漸變成獵豹(我四歲的兒子對獵豹非常著迷,很難想像在當前的印度有部分品種的獵豹正瀕臨絕種)。她體內有個洞在逐漸閉合──她的痛苦正逐漸轉變為力量。這名女性學習從跌倒中爬起、從樹的汁液掙脫出來成為超級女蜘蛛人,她的生命正在擴張。而在一旁沈睡的蛇,似乎準備好隨時要搗亂。這幅作品展現了脆弱如何轉化成強大的力量,而這股力量隨時可能遭受威脅。 |