KOCHI: A famous figure in the advertising industry, Latheesh Laksman is fairly new to the art world. His artworks carry a certain modern outlook and food for thought that is vital to social change.
Latheesh’s works at the Lokame Tharavadu is an honest and unapologetic commentary on the Malayali society’s superiority complex. “I don’t know what made us like that. But for some reason, we refer to ourselves as sreeman — individuals full of virtues. But we are not so great. Our so-called complicated Malayali mindset comes with many issues,” says Latheesh. His series, ‘Amabada Njane’ looks into our society’s callous pride.
Mocking mentalities
“A Malayali — be it a man or a woman — belonging to my generation created a system or a society that prefers to hide its flaws and sugarcoating them as virtues. Everyone thinks they’re perfect, and they refuse to respect anyone’s else’s opinion. We call ourselves Sreeman. But I never understood what is the benchmark to be called one,” quips Latheesh.
The men in Latheesh’s artworks have hairy backs and colourful limbs. The women are bare-chested with pretty eyes and colourful coifs. The golden Malayalam letters spelling out the titles of the series add to the aesthetics.
“I use letters to represent what I want to convey. I love the shape and curves of the Malayalam alphabet,” says Latheesh. He uses the letters and moulds to convey the messages bluntly and bravely. The golden letters proudly displayed in the frames mock our consciousness and call us out for who we are.
Reflection of self
His series Sreemathi+ Sreeman+ Sreemathi (an), the second series at Lokame Tharavadu, is all about gender rights. One of the frames portrays a bare heterosexual man. The letters Sreeman in golden colour surround him. The woman is also bare, with colourful limbs and purple hair. The letters Sreemathi surround her.
But the series isn’t celebrating masculinity or femininity. But it questions our sensibilities on what constitutes a man or a woman and the concept of gender. The third frame, where ‘I choose’ covers the subject’s genitalia, is a proud proclaim of people’s right to choose their gender and sexuality. The frame mocks both the Malayali heteronormativity and the idea of censorship.
Their intensity, accompanied by the letters that leave no room for arguments, pick on its intentions and hits us where it hurts the most.
“Speaking on gender and LGBTQ rights hits differently when someone close to us comes out. When a layman — Malayali or not — sees a gay or a lesbian person, they have reservations about treating them normally, though they speak about progressiveness,” says Latheesh, whose art projects have been covering the gender spectrum for a while now. For a group exhibition conducted in Kochi following the release of Nivin Pauly-starrer Moothon, Latheesh has put out art that largely deals with the lives of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I don’t think it’s the queer community that is battling identity crisis. It is the opposite side which has a problem,” says Latheesh.