What emotions are coursing through your veins at this very moment as you peruse this text? Are you gripped by curiosity, maintaining a sense of indifference, or, perchance, do you carry the weight of a lurking thought at the hind of your consciousness? Our mental edifice is perpetually swayed by a tapestry of emotions, despite our best efforts to mask our true expressions.
“The Pollen Waits on its Tiptoe,” an enthralling art exposition curated by the Bengaluru-based revelator in art curation, Manasa Raj, has embarked on an odyssey through the nine classical emotions, or Navarasas. An enduring notion finally took form, as Manasa observed during the pandemic’s crucible the diversity of human responses – anxiety, relief, the resolve for self-improvement – which led her to contemplate an exhibition centered around this theme.
“To stand in the shoes of another,” an ethos to which art often aspires, manifests in the curatorial approach found in the exhibition’s construct. These works embody the Navarasas, which are encompassed within the Natyashastra, an ancient treatise on theatre. The emotional palette it prescribes includes adbutha (wonder), bhayanaka (fear), bibhatsya (disgust), hasya (humor), karuna (compassion), raudra (rage), shantha (serenity), shringara (romance), and veera (heroism).
Manasa’s inspiration struck while she delved into the translated verses of Kannada poet Da Ra Bendre, who ruminated upon the same rasas and rasika (audience). It is Bendre’s work “The Pollen Waits on its Tiptoe” that imparts the exhibition its title, a deliberate choice reflecting the analogy drawn between pollen – vibrant yet often without clear direction – and the human emotional experience.
With twenty-one artists contributing, transcending geographical bounds from Karnataka to the echoing corners of Delhi, Mumbai, and Lucknow, the exhibition boasts an ambrosial blend of perspectives. Some artists felt an instant kinship with the assigned emotion, while others found their resonance with an alternate rasa. This duality birthed a dialogue amongst the artists, an exchange that underscores the multifaceted and shifting nature of emotions, as noted by Manasa.
Visual narratives are encapsulated within nine thematic chambers, each sanctified to a single rasa with artistry from two or three creators. The media employed by artists such as Dimple B Shah, Sukanya Garg, Shivaprasad KT, and Marissa D Miranda, among others, span an eclectic range: painting, sculpture, photography, printmaking, textiles, installations, and hybrids of said art forms. These concoctions of expression lack individual titles, prompting visitors to delve inward and ponder whether the artwork mirrors their intrinsic emotional fabric.
Within this realm, “The Pollen Waits on its Tiptoe” crafts a sanctuary for introspection at the 7 Galleries within the Chitrakala Parishat. Until April 8th, from the early bell of 10:30 in the morning until the dimming twilight at 6:30 in the evening, the exhibition invites an exploration of how the art on display converses with the viewers’ own perceptions of emotion. Each stroke, each contour, and each hue unravels a dimension of the human psyche, a foray into the constellation of feelings we navigate daily.
In this tableau, Manasa Raj insinuates an exploration of our most entrenched sentiments through an artistic lens, encouraging an active participation between the work and its perceiver. A poignant question lingers in the air: Can we truly sequester our emotions, or are we, like so much drifting pollen, at the mercy of winds both seen and unseen?
