Ajaysekher.net » Cultural Politics

“Laughing Men” A poem by Satheesh K V

Ajay — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 06:55:47 +0000

She sits at a height

Wearing a petticoat.

Her smooth legs visible in the moonlight

And her bosom soft as feather.

Her eyes shadowed

But glistening in the dim light,

And her lips have an oily glint.

Behind her is the shadow,

And out of it emerges once in a while

Many a laughing men—

Men who were just beside you the other day,

And will sit beside you the next day,

And some will stay with you the full course of your life,

And look into your face always,

With thankfulness to the ‘god’ beside them

And tell a thousand silent prayers

At the back of your head,

Revealing their inner thoughts with antithetical emotions,

With a thousand different nuances…

She talks like a parrot and weeps like a child,

And each time you go away the child in her takes you back.

With the smile of ‘god’ she will teach you horror,

Takes you down to the depth

And tells you: it’s an unfathomable ocean,

The deeper you go the greater you realize…

And while you do so in the dark

She waits for the next laughing man to come…

Satheesh K V teaches English at Govt. College, Kasaragod. To read more poems by the same poet visit his blog:

http://soloscribbler.wordpress.com/

Dreams Deferred: A Solo

Ajay — Sat, 08 May 2010 08:09:46 +0000

What happens to a dream deferred? Asked Langston Hughes from Harlem renaissance. He concluded his famous poem by aptly assuming that it would eventually explode! The explosive and subversive power of human dreams that are visual signs and memories are explored on canvas in my first solo exhibition of painting titled “Dreams Deferred” which is on at Dubar Hall Art Centre, Ernakulam from May 9 to 15, 2010 (Gallery D, First Floor).

'Pandit Karuppan' Mixed Media 2010

Paintings and drawings done in the last few years in acrylic and mixed media are on show including figurative and abstract compositions, portraits and landscapes. The images and motifs radically question, deconstruct and subvert mainstream visual culture and representation. Sites of power and hegemony are critiqued and caricatured. The art show is part of a new democratic cultural politics of difference in the field of visual culture and semiotics.

'Nude' Acrylic on Canvas 2007

The works are well situated within the contesting locations of culture and struggle within Kerala and its contemporary cultural history. Visual references and nuances point towards the historic epistemological and semiotic struggle between cultural elitism and democratic politics of the people, the subaltern. All who are interested in the contemporary visual culture and the politics of resistance and survival are welcome to this little act.

Some Media Responses

New Indian Express Review

Report in Desabhimani Daily

Review in Metro News

Viewers at the gallery

Spinal Cord: Malayalam Theater is Live and Kicking Abroad!

Ajay — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:08:17 +0000

Spinal Cord is a Malayalam theatrical adaptation of Marquez, the Colombian master of fiction. Deepan Sivaraman has shown his remarkable directorial and scenographic skills in the experimental production which has already seen a number of stages within Kerala and won laurels abroad.

The whole world is a stage: Intimacy of Sandwich stage

The sandwich stage and participatory tropes are de-centered and democratic. The trained cast and crew are rising to the occasion. But unfortunately the B V Bhavan in Ernakulam where I watched the whole drama in the hot and humid evening could not hold the eager audience who were kept out by the small and scorching auditorium.

Sajitha Madathil playing a remarkable role

Though the play was trying to articulate an inclusive gender politics and justice the theater and venue excluded the spectators who thronged into the crowded house from all over Kerala. Though poetic justice was ruling over the stage material justice was denied to the people who came to watch the play.

Obscure object of Desire: personified female chastity

The play interrogates and critically explicates the patriarchal concept of woman’s chastity. The bloody violence and struggles that follow in order to maintain chastity and family/caste honor are also dramatically visualized with excellent lighting and stage properties. This new breed of Malayalam theater also uses multimedia support for visual simulation. Actor Gopalan who played the lead of an old woman did an excellent performance. It is a meaningful and valid dramatic attempt for representing cultural reality while attacking patriarchy.

Total theater: the polyphony of Audio-visual experience

Festive Summer Nights of Kerala

Ajay — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:34:17 +0000

The festival season is on in Kerala. The hot midsummer nights are transformed into convivial carnivals of music, dance and performance in a variety of ways in various locations of culture. Temples and churches are throbbing with their annual festivals. These religious centers become secular in these sociable and inclusive nights that open up for everyone.

Pop concerts called Ganamela: Leading young playback singer Jyotsna in full swing

Both popular and elite cultural forms pull audiences from all walks of life. There are still hegemonic and orthodox traits in some aspects like the parading of elephants and temple purity and pollution culture that are both anti human and anti aniamal. But still the old democratic spirit and egalitarianism of Kerala’s Sramana heritage of Buddhism and Jainism are reminiscent in the festival culture. The temple festivals in Kerala are actually the lasting legacy of Buddhist and Jain festival rituals appropriated later by Hindu Brahmanism as they converted the temples in the 8th and 9th centuries.

Classical concert by Priya Sisters

But still the popular performances and music in these starry nights are a true democratization of culture and celebration of the secular human spirit. The dynamism and creative energy of Kerala’s young talents are expressed amidst mixed crowds and fans of this unique festive gaiety that surpasses caste, gender, class, age and locality. The hegemonic and reiterating elements must be checked and the secular and democratic spirit must be upheld by the people. Let me leave you with glimpses of this vibrant creative energy and local life culture.

Gopi Asan: A star in Kathakali

A favorite duo: Kalamandalam Gopi and Margi Vijayakumar

Hot and spicy: Boiled corns for sale

Festival shops and colors

A senior Pan seller at the festival

Illuminating toys on display

Children enjoying with fire crackers

Lord of Peacocks among humans: A folk performer of Mayuranritham

Ultimate Performer: Pop diva Jyotsna

Luring the crowds: Jyotsna in pop concert

Bio power of music: Jyotsna in action

Democratizing Art: Jyotsna singing to the people

Kerala and Karnataka: Historical and Cultural Linkages

Ajay — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 08:52:39 +0000

Sravanabelgola: The pool between two hills

Icon of Indian Visual Culture: Imposing Nudity of Gomateswara

In the first week of April 2010, I was in Karnataka. Southern Karnataka has historical connections with Kerala from pre-historic ages onwards. The Sramana culture of Buddhism and Jainism came to Northern and central Kerala through Karnataka. I visited Sravanabelgola which has been the centre of Jain culture from BC third century onwards. The very place name suggests the Vella Kulam of the Sramanas or the white pool of the Jain Munis. In Sravanabelgola a large granite stepped pool with four carved gateways separates two hillocks. Both are rich with history and cultural memory.

Temple atop Vindhya Giri above the carved steps

Emperor Chandra Gupta Maurya along with his Jain guru Bhadra Bahu migrated down south to this beautiful hillock now called Chandra Giri, after him and spent his last days here in ascetic renunciation. The temple complex built in their memory still adorn the top of this hill after a series of renovations by various dynasties across millenniums. Beneath the hill there is an ancient tank that is full even in summer.

On the neighbouring hill called Vindhya Giri stands the colossal monolith of Bahubali, the first Thirthankara of Jainism. This 58 feet monolith is one of the tallest ones in the world. It was carved by Aristanami, the renowed South Indian sculptor in the mid tenth century under the decree of Chamunda Raya, the Ganga king. With the stark stone-nakedness, the calm and open posture, being one with nature with all the creepers, snakes and ants and anthills around him and at his feet the one and only Gomateswara statue represents the pinnacle of Indian visual culture and philosophy.

Gaja Lakshmi relif above the entrance, originally Jain

Cow and Calf: Relief on Pillor

The unique temple around this beautiful and eco-aesthetically harmonious gray-granite monolith houses the exquisitely carved smaller sculptures in granite and schist of all the other 24 thirthankara’s and Jain sub-deities. Gaja Lakshmi, Yaksha/Yakshini, Saraswati, Ganesh… to name a few. All most all these sub-deities and motifs of Jain sculpture and architecture are now being Hinduized in various temples across South India after the Brahmanical internal invasion that gained cultural hegemony by the 12th and 14th century through royal usurpation and patronage.

The granite reliefs and carvings on the pillors and side walls are

Meditation in Stone: Gomateswara or Bahubali in Sravanabelgola

Dancing woman/Apsara on the pillor

amazing and enchanting. The images of men, women, and animals are evocatively animate and thrillingly dynamic. There are also images of abstract forms and ideas like the music generated by a string instrument depicted in intricate carved patterns in stone. The woman playing the Vina could be none other than the goddess of music. Thee are monochrome murals depicting elephants, horses and bulls. The rough semi carvings on the outer granite wall embellish with images of twin fish, snakes, apes, wrestlers, contortionists etc. A visit to this ancient cultural center reveals the fact that it is the true center of South Indian temple architecture, murals and iconography.

Murals: Horse and Elephant, Jain Mudras

The striking northward facing Gomateswara or Bahubali in his gray-granite nudity atop the Vindhya Giri hillock is visible from miles afar as we approach and leave Sravanabelgola from Bangalore or Mangalore. It is 150 km west of Bangalore on NH 48. Other Jain centers like Karkala and Venur are also nearby.

Music in Stone: Woman playing Vina

Fort Kochi: Kerala’s Window to the World

Ajay — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 18:31:21 +0000

Ancient and Modern: Polyphony of Fort Kochi

Visitors from all over the world

Old colonial bungalows, warehouses, streets, palaces, churches, mosques, Jain temples and a Jewish Synagogue – Fort Kochi or Fort Cochin offers plenty of rare spectacles and cultural specifics to the keen traveler. This beautiful island like southern bank of Kochi harbor lured ancient travelers and explorers from time immemorial. The Romans, the Chinese, the Arabs, the Jews, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French and the English came to these seductive shores and settled down. The whole world has left its imprint in this tiny strip of land between the Arabian sea and Kochi backwaters.

Fresh catch from the sea

The Jew Street and the still preserved Synagogue are among the ancient surviving ones in the world. Though the Jews had left long ago to their promised land these ancient relics resonate the rich polyphonic culture of South India. The Dutch palace in Mattanchery, slightly south of Fort Cochin is again a historic marvel of hybrid architecture. The Dutch cemetery and bungalows are still surviving and being renovated under the heritage projects. The sparkling little beach nearby attracts a lot of people and the marine walkway is always busy. Some canon barrels and gunnery are still seen near the beach path facing the sea.

Chinese fishing nets are a real treat for the eyes and are lasting legacies of Keala’s historic relations with ancient Chinese culture. We still use

Vibrant Fish Market

Chinese frying pans, Chinese pots and urns, Chinese lanterns and so on… Kerala architecture and visual culture are reminiscent of the Chinese traditions. Our brave fisher folk still earn a living using the ancient Chinese fishing nets along both the sides of the harbor. Foreigners crowd in numbers to watch the catch still. The ancient trees and the variety of birds here are also adding to the charm and magic of this place. So is the street merchants and their display of handicrafts.

Chinese Nets and Sunsets

The Vasco da Gama Square offers historic memories of European colonialism. The St. Francis church nearby is one of the ancient churches in the peninsula. Gama’s physical remains were kept here for sometime before it was taken to Europe. The fish market with live catch of prawn, lobsters, shrimp, squids, crabs and a lot more rare sea food is irresistible. The food courts designed in the Portuguese style are dramatic and cozy.

Fishing Terns in the channel

More than everything the people of this place and the people who throng in to this place from various parts of the world to enjoy the sun, wind and sea of Fort Cochin are really exciting and illuminating. Men and women from various corners of the globe come here and share the shared heritage of Fort Cochin and the plural culture of Kerala that opened its windows to the world a lot earlier than other parts of India. This is a great place to be and a great place to learn about the composite culture of Kerala. Whenever I get time I make my regular pilgrimage to this great shore of cultural plurality and historical diversity. The refreshing gushy winds and waves of the Arabian sea, the movement of the Chinese fishing nets, the rejuvenating faces of the travelers from distant shores and the seagulls and terns beckon me time and again to this unique location of culture.

Lonely Seagull above House boat

Dutch Cemetery

Common Sandpiper at the beach

Inside St Francis Church

Profanations: Art Show with a Difference

Ajay — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 09:43:57 +0000

My artist friends R Venu, Hochimin, Sivadasan, Vinu VV and Anil K N have materialized a unique group exhibition of paintings at Darbar Hall Art Centre, Kochi from 22 to 28 February 2010. The show is titled “Profanations” and is curated and organized by Zen Studio Gallery, Eramalloor, Alapuzha.

"The Attendant" by Hochimin. Oil on canvas

The show brings together the recent works of these young and dynamic artists of Kerala that challenge visual culture and politics in plural ways. The works also invoke some of the contemporary issues, visual idioms and thematic in current Kerala and the world. They address questions of representation, hegemony and resistance in their own ways.

An Intricate Water Colour Painting By R Venu

The works of Venu explore the labyrinthine intricacies of power and and its manifestations through an intimate and elaborate visualization of details. He makes visible the invisible micro operations of power and docility. Sites of power and resistance are inscribed minutely and intricately on his vast canvases in a meditative and meandering manner. His visual depiction is multi-layered and interwoven.

Hochimin explores the alarming contours and contagious terrains of hegemony and cultural subordination in the Indian and Kerala context with special visual significations aimed at the Indian fascism and Brahmanism in purticular. The geographical and topographical ethereal landscapes and bizarre figures enact a vital theatre of life, expression and counter action. His whole body of work visually addresses and interogates the cultural puzzles and riddles of the caste society with amazing and surreal imagery and awesome textures.

Sivadasan explores the magical and tragical play of colours and simple images drawn from everyday life in a refreshing but complex and illuminating manner. His enquiry into the visual realm is ingenuous and resonant. Some of his works are deceptively simple and ironically cathartic.

A Painting in Three parts by Anil K N

Vinu’s almost life size self portraits in water colour are playful and pardoxical. They are also political statements and serious critiques of contemporary cultural politics in Kerala. They articulate the muted trajectory of subaltern voice and agency in our society.

Anil also explores the untouched branches and spaces of exclusion and marginalization in Kerala cultural context. Through the representation of simple tree branches and twigs he visually renders an allegory of our current political struggles of excluded people for land and human rights. His exemplary command over the acrylic medium is enchanting and visually soothing.

The splendid catalog brought out by Zen team and the art critics Sudheeran, Benoy and Sunil also stands apart as an expression of creativity and critical consciousness. The collective work of these young people are really meaningful and critically valuable in the field of visual culture and representation in Kerala today. As I was leaving the gallery I was also interested to note a lot of youngsters coming and watching the show at D H Hall.

Venu, Sivadasan, Vinu, Hochimin and Jr. Hochimin before Vinu's Self

For complete images and catalog text visit www.zenstudiogallery.com and also www.zenstudiogallery.blogspot.com

“Rain-Home” A Poem by Bijoy Chandran

Ajay — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 12:31:45 +0000

Home

Alone in the dark.

The sobs of the decayed window;

Yesterday scribbled on a piece of paper.

The guest vanished leaving the foot ware behind

Life too retreated after searching for a while in vain.

We alone remain at the end like rusted old vessels

The struggling love strangles us with creeping in memories.

Though we close the door mutually like this

The bonds of life and beyond call us back again.

It beats in the locked room within the heart

The pants for you, the drums of monsoon.

Translated from Malayalam original “Mazhaveetu” by Ajay Sekher.

Bijoy Chandran is a young poet in Malayalam who has many volumes of poetry to his credit. He also edits the magazine Thorcha from Muvatupuzha. He can be reached at: +91 9947132322.

Portraits of the Artist as a Model

Ajay — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:34:37 +0000

Last week some energetic young painters among my students in plus two at GVHSS Rajakumari asked my permission to draw my portraits. I spend some time sitting before them as a model for their artistic practice. They have shown tremendous vigor and gusto in representing my image in an imaginative way adding touches of irony and caricature. Elements of cartooning and creative composition with graffiti are also visible and tangible in their rendering of their English teacher. I am really happy to publish those works here!

Jithin 2010, Ball Pen on Paper, 20*10 cm

Anil Raj 2010, Ball Pen on paper, 25*15

Vishnu M R 2010, Pencil on paper, 20*10

Sijo M Jose 2010, Pencil on Paper, 20*30 cm

I really thank all these young painters and express my gratitude and enthusiasm in their work. They inspire me to draw and paint in a more free and friendly manner than I often do. They teach me to be simple, humane and creative at the same time. I learn from you my young friends!

Zizek in Kerala: Kochi Life 2010

Ajay — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 07:09:19 +0000

Slavoj Zizek delivering "Whither Left?" at Kochi Life International Festival 2010

The renowned Slovenian intellectual Slavoj Zizek was in Kerala during 8 and 9 January 2010. He came to deliver the lecture “Whither Left?” at the Kochi Life 2010: Letters International Festival. The cultural festival also became a historic meeting place in Kerala of philosophers, thinkers, writers and activists from all over the world like Pof. Akeel Belgrami, Gail Omvedt, Gopal Guru, Javed Alam, Prabhat Patnaik, Tejaswini Niranjana, Usha Zacharias, Kumar Shahani, S Anand, Sashi Kumar…

Gopal Guru adding "There is more to secularism"

Open to dialogue: Gail Omvedt

C Ayyappan the leading Dalit short fiction writer in Malayalam inaugurated the event by stating that there is a Dalit writing stream in Kerala. The fete was an important platform for discussions and debates on class, caste and gender issues in the socio political contexts of India and the world at large.

Zizek as a listener

Gail Omvedt in conversation with Zizek and Alam

Zizek stressed the vitality of advancing the class struggle and the urgency of the anti capitalist revolution. According to him this is the time for action and we must do it now and here: “Do not look out for other people to do it for you, from other safely distant corners of the world.” The leading continental philosopher and psycho analyst was lashing it all out against capitalism and American imperialism. His dynamism and energy recharged the festival and captivated the audiences in which a large chunk of students were present from all over Kerala.

Eager to ask: Zizek asking questions

It was a meaningful and historic occasion for the literate people in Kerala who read Zizek and other thinkers from the west and are familiar with the global intellectual debates on capital and race. The first edition of Kochi Life was an enormous success in mass participation and active discussions. The organizers like Dilip Raj can now plan and work hard for the next edition focusing and developing on the key socio-cultural issues of our times and contexts.