Sanam Narayanan

Statement

My working process stems from the organic relationship with nature. As a native of a coastal areas in Kerala, the mountain ranges have fascinated me from an early age. Hiking up and through a mountainous region can be a journey of internalization. I have been drawn to higher altitudes in a primordial sense as they have become a place of rest and internal exploration. With my background in sculpture, I am focused on the emotive instinct of spaces, which can trigger particular images or metaphors in my practice. Translating these spaces into aggregates of objects and further into two dimensions is a challenge that allows me to explore themes of sanctuary, contemplation, and solitude; instead of creating a tapestry of symbols, I choose to pursue an atmospheric form of communication.

 I am subconsciously attracted to the mysterious clearings amid unruly greenery and similar obscure spaces. A wide variety of trees, the ground-cover shrubs, other flora and fauna of the wild, old dwellings, highlighted areas, small hills, rugged paths, and such are all conjured up as elements to create a sublime mood. Memories might have been imprinted in me due to earlier internalizations. Thus, the interactive process is, improvising along the way instinctively. The stillness speaks to me, which keeps me going. When reconstructing such spaces, we are free to remove the limitations that physical spaces are forced to exist under. For example, a bird flying straight through a mountain not only evokes the object as porous but also binds the object in an immediate state of time, not one construed in past history. Doing so removes limitations from this metaphor.