Acrylics on canvas, 2022
Exhibited at ‘Yours in Truth’ Space118 Fundraiser Show, Mumbai 2022
Paper folding and Origami fascinate me. I find it magical to see how crease-lines turn a flat paper into various three-dimensional forms, and how various patterns emerge when the paper is unfolded. I often wonder what a piece of paper can become— fiddling with folds and creases that sketch imaginary landscapes—it can prompt multiple meanings and interpretations for the forms that appear. A triangular fold on top of a square form could represent a house, creased squares and rectangles could suggest rooms within rooms, or an aerial view of an agricultural landscape or an abstract design of a tiled mosaic—the visualisations could be subjective and infinite.
The beauty of Origami is grounded in the mutually complimentary relationship between aesthetics and mathematical principles. In contrast, a large part of our contemporary life is driven by the tendency to raise and erase structures, communities, and histories without much consideration for preserving core relationships either with nature or with knowledge, time, and memory. Our blinkered focus on ‘becoming’ denies us the ‘unfolding’ experience (‘unbecoming’ sadly carries a pejorative connotation) to reflect and consider alternative experiences that occur during the intermediate stages of creative deliberation. A crease is often perceived as a defect, a mark that disturbs the pristine flatness of a surface. This flattening further feeds a culture of homogenisation that is driven by conformity, where any deviations from the dominant narrative are devalued.
Our understanding of people, animals and other beings is dependent on how, when and where we encounter them, an aspect that we have little choice over. And yet, images from fleeting moments sometimes create lasting impressions, urging me to revisit those evocations. In Missives to a Future the human figures are inspired by strangers, whom I have caught glimpses of while passing through their neighbourhood, or perhaps those I have imagined from places my mind has travelled to. Recontextualised in abstract settings, people and animals take on new roles in worlds floating through spaces that unfold onto themselves, with patterns and creases teasing one to believe in a foretelling of what might become of each story.
Malavika Rajnarayan
2022
Malavika Rajnarayan 