Seeds of memories
Siji Krishnan’s works are detailed like life itself. Using rice paper and watercolours, this 29-year-old artist creates canvases that are autobiographical – a woman rising out from a pile of Hop bush, a father cradling his daughter, a semi-formed being ensconced in a leaf, evolving. They often feature her father who passed away in 2008. Her works are on exhibit at Galerie MS in Colaba in her show called 0+0=0 (my Father’s Mathematics). She tells us more about them.
The Lullaby series is a dedication to my father’s love. I am not a very talkative person. I have all these childhood memories of him, and every time I want to talk about him I find that I can’t articulate my feelings. Painting for me is the best way I can express what I feel for him. The mosquito net that you see in these paintings are actually cobwebs. I am fascinated by nature and this is an extension of a series I showed in Delhi at the Art Fair last year.
I love walking near where I stay. It’s a forest-like area near the university in Hyderabad. During my walks I collect seeds, dead leaves and flowers. These inspired this series of paintings. If you look closely, this is autobiographical in the sense that I have painted myself in them. In the transparent spaces in the painting I put myself in it. Nature is an extension of my life. I would like the viewer to take whatever meaning (s)he wants out of it.
I picked up seeds that to me looked like they were faces. That is what I have replicated. All I did was put two eyes, a nose and lips on them. And didn’t bother how it turned out. I didn’t give them any expression. Some of them look like they are kissing each other, others just looking back at you.
