Inspired by the dakjee doll-making technique learned while on residency in Korea in 2017, artist Sudipta Das explores themes of exile, refuge and temporariness of life through these delicately crafted figurines.
Also, being a fourth-generation migrant, she seeks images and references from the Partition to give voice to her artistic vision.
“Art has been a medium through which one would try to transform one’s own personal world to a world that is coexisting with humans and the other species. Art, thereby, becomes a way of life for me. It has also played a crucial role in reflecting the pivotal components of life and I attempt to understand the different and evolving times that we live in,” she says.
The ephemeral and versatile quality of the Hanji paper makes it her favoured medium in putting together fragmented interpretations.
Fragile, yet resistant at the same time, the paper has a quality that reflects the tenacity of the unnamed people whose stories she seeks to tell.
“An unsuspecting medium, paper has long been a hidden protagonist in the narratives of placelessness. Without paper, one has no form of identification, and without identification; one loses the freedom to move from place to place and ultimately their proof of belonging,” says Sudipta, almost echoing the chaos the country is facing with the CAA-NRC-NPR.
Her earlier work with Partition saw her cutting photographs and then repainting them and putting them together in a collage.
It was her way to piece together an inherited memory of dispossession and diaspora.
The photographs become a key to unlocking a personal history, and a lens to examine her experience of identity loss as a micro-minority community.
Sudipta believes that art has a duty to hold a mirror to society.
“The themes that I try to explore are what I have experienced and my practice focuses on understanding, describing, and then re-interpreting the times we live in,” she says.
Little wonder that at the recent show, she has created an installation which forces viewers to navigate a sea of nameless figures.
The arrangement reinforces the idea of mass populations who have to cross over impermanent thresholds into uncertain futures.
Elaborating on the art of dakjee doll-making, she says, “Hanji paper is the local Korean paper which is a versatile but extremely durable material made from the inner bark of the mulberry tree, whose leaves feed silkworms as well. This paper is said to last 1,000 years.
"I usually start with painting over the paper and use watercolours for the same. The figures and their belongings in my work are made by combining and shaping paper in different ways. It involves layering of several pieces of paper together. This brings out the intricate textures and the colours that I have used on the paper add to it.”
Rendered in incredible detail, the paper sculptures are positioned in such a way that further suggests their life in limbo.
Bhavna Kakar, the founder-director of Gallery Latitude 28, who has been following the artist’s practice since her days as a student in Santiniketan, says, “Sudipta’s works enable her to lend a different personality and identity to each of the figures. The works present these melancholic dolls who have lost their roots, but still, for a time, have each other, above their homes and the places they hold dear.
"They all seem on the tide of a flood, ready to be deposited somewhere else. She shows what we are doing to our fellow human beings. This is why her work is so resonant today.”
Know the Artist
Born in Assam, Sudipta Das studied at Santiniketan. Her work refers to the physical and emotional losses caused by seasonal floods that annually devastate her hometown of Silchar.
Descending from a migrant family, she portrays the pain and agonies of cross-border migration. Her installations speak of the loss of one’s own home and relocating to a strange new land.
The artist is currently based in Vadodara.
When & Where
The Exodus of Eternal Wanderers Venue: Gallery Latitude 28, F-208, First Floor, Lado Sarai, Delhi; Time: Till February 28, 11 am to 7 pm