CHENNAI: When Latha Maheshwari first ‘discovered’ sand art six years ago, she was not a stranger to the world of strokes and sketches; she was already an expert in more than 150 art mediums, including oil painting, acrylics and Thanjvur painting and had an art academy running in both Madurai and Chennai.
“I happened to watch videos of the famous Israeli sand artist Ilana Yahav one day and I just knew that I had to do this. She is my inspiration even today,” says Latha.
“I am a self-taught artist. So I thought to myself: How difficult could learning a new form of artwork be?” And soon enough, Latha conducted her first show at a friend’s birthday party in Madurai. “It lasted around 45 minutes and there was no set theme as such. I did something based on nature and did not expect people to like it. But they loved it and that gave me the impetus to continue doing sand art and improvise,” she avers.
She began doing routine shows at corporate events and private gatherings in Chennai, and started carving a niche for herself over the years. “Sand art and sculpting is synonymous with North India, as there aren’t many in the south. So people started recognising me and invited me to do live shows for several occasions. That is when I decided to completely shift base to Chennai,” says the founder of Vac Academy, a fine arts teaching institution established in the year 2001.
However, being chosen to perform for AR Rahman’s album, Raunaq, in 2014, was a serendipitous windfall and a turning point. “One day I got a call from the producers who said that I will have to do sand animation keeping in line with the lyrics and theme of the song Kismet Se, performed by AR Rahman and Shreya Ghoshal. The theme was love and separation, and I followed the instructions of the director carefully. I think it has come out really well,” she smiles.
Recently, Latha performed on Jaya TV, making a presentation showing the life and times of Puratchi Thalaivi J Jayalalithaa on her birthday, just a few months before her demise. She also did an exclusive logo presentation using sand on Vijay TV for actor Suriya’s Agaram Foundation in 2015.
Ask her about the most challenging part of sand art is, and she says candidly, “The whole package…everything is difficult. You see, I am not merely taking grains of sand and drawing stuff. All my shows are themed...which means my fingers should always be in sync with the music, lighting and voice-over (if any). It is not easy,” she avers. “There is absolutely no room for error. As soon as a frame is shown on the projector, I have to move to the next frame, but I cannot start from scratch. I have to improvise and make sure I have the audiences’ attention, otherwise the whole show will fizzle out.”
According to her, discipline and a solid mind-finger coordination is crucial. “When I am performing, I do not let anything affect me — be it the audience’s encouragement or lack thereof,” she says, emphasising again that a small mistake can adversely affect everything. “Even if the background music is great and I want to get carried away, I simply cannot. Focus is really, really important.”
A dedicated teacher, Latha is optimistic about the future of sand art in South India. “Students at my academy want to do this as a career, and I support them. With sand art, I want to prove that it’s not only music and dance that can be performed live on stage,” she smiles.
For details, visit her FB page: Latha Maheshwari Sand Artist