Matter of creativity

[1]

Satyameva Jayate

The thing that draws most people towards paper pulp is that they don’t quite understand it. The texture itself is so many things at once that they are left wondering: Is it paper? Is it cloth? Or is it something else altogether.

But as confusing as the material can be, it never fails to invoke awe when rendered in fine art. That’s what artist Kirti Chandak likes about paper pulp. ‘I was introduced to the medium when I was doing my masters in fine arts in Baroda. I was immediately taken in by the
material.’
Later on, when she was in Pondicherry, she started to experiment with the raw pulp made of banyan rags. ‘It opened new vistas for me and a whole new series of works I had never imagined before were born,’ Kirti says.
Working with paper pulp is as unpredictable as it gets. ‘You never know, while making an artwork, how it will turn out,’ says Kirti, whose largest piece of work is a 20-feet-high scroll. From Draupadi’s vastra haran chapter in the Mahabharata to the present day recession, Kirti’s inspirations are myriad. ‘I inserted my old credit card into the pulp when I wanted to create the melancholic human face associated with the economic slowdown. The possibilities of various textures in this mixed media makes this so exciting,’ she says.
Paper pulp also allows Kirti to play by her original painterly instincts. ‘I love the dual nature of the pulp which can be modelled with as well as painted on. While making paper, the pulp is malleable and allows me to create textures, to scoop out to make voids or add on to emboss relief forms, besides the sensitive surface is absorbent and has the possibility of being painted on. Thus the act of creation begins right from the making of the paper itself,’ she says. The duration of creating an art work can vary from anything between one month to six months, depending on the size. ‘The whiteness of beaten banyan rags is beautiful and it can last up to 200 years,’ she says.
Kirti, whose tryst with art began with painting, adds, ‘Canvas can be a dead surface but pulp is a magical medium that adds more life to the artworks.”