Expressions of Devotion

By Sangeeta Thapa, Director, Siddharth Art Gallery

2014

Over the years, Uma Shankar Shah and Dr. Seema Sharma Shah have established themselves as Nepal’s foremost printmakers. While Uma Shankar ji hails from Janakpur, Dr Seema Sharma Shah's traces her ancestry back to Lahore where her grandfather served as the family priest to Maharajah Ranjit Singh's family. During the partition in 1947, her family fled to India and settled in Varanasi – the most holy of cities for Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims alike. It is in this city that both Uma and Seema pursued studies and met. The piety of the city of Varanasi seems have seeped into the core of their very beings and into their work. Over the last eighteen years in Kathmandu, both Uma and Seema have discovered together the religious pulse of this city. The rendition of their landscapes seem to be the subconscious merging of their Indo-Nepalese experience. Both artists source their inspiration from the rich heritage and culture of Nepal and India; in the stories of the Ramayan and in the avatars and pantheon of the Gods. Their prints serve as a documentation of the festivals and jatras which breathe life into the cityscape of Kathmandu, and Janakpur. Though I have exhibited the works of both these artists before, this is the first time in Nepal that both Uma and Seema are showcasing their prints together.

Throughout history the fertile plains of the Terai have been the centre point of great spiritual activity. Sita the consort of Lord Ram was born in Janakpur, once the capital of the historic Mithila kingdom . The Buddha was born in Kapilvastu,Lumbini – and it was in these verdant plains that Ashoka Chandragupta abandoned his bloody expansionist wars and embraced Buddhism. Sages and saints, refugees from religious pogroms, all passed through Nepal's southern border and added to its cultural legacy.

The epic Ramayan is the inspiration for Uma Shankar's new series of prints. The artist's new series document the birth of Sita, the garland ceremony and the mighty bow, her trip to Ayodhya, her subsequent exile into the forest with Lord Rama, her abduction, the search launched for her and the ensuing battle in which the demon Ravana is defeated. As the artist hails from Janakpur, his narrative and imagery are deeply rooted in Mithila tradition and folklore. Uma Shankar reinterprets the classical Mithila side profile, with the doe like eyes, to depict his characters. Birds, animals, aquatic creatures that are symbolically used in Mithila folk art find their way into the artist's subconscious. Though the hallmark of Uma Shankar's prints have been dark and nocturnal, this series marks a departure as the artist uses a red palette with earth tones to recreate the colors of ancient frescoes where red earth and mud served as a natural pigments. In some prints the earth tones are evocative of the dust that is generated in the battle in which these epic characters clash. Uma Shankar portrays Ravana as the traditional firework puppet that is set alight in Dusshera to celebrate the victory of good over evil. Arrows dart across the canvas, the great beasts of war - elephants, horses and chariots - are featured amongst the dead and the wounded. The artist uses ancient slokas from Maithali, Avadhi, Bhojpuri and Sanskrit to reverentially evoke the mood of this great epic.

In 2006, Uma Shankar exhibited his series Shanti Yagna – as a response to the bloodshed in the country Once again the artist uses the imagery of the prayer wheel to make an appeal for peace .The iconic Tibetan prayer wheel, is reworked with Mithila folk characters to portray a tragic reality - the land where the Buddha was born is in a state of unrest.

Seema's new series Avatars , encompasses deities from the Hindu and Buddhist pantheon. Her prints give us a view of the imaginary sanctum sanctoria of the Gods. The reoccurring symbol of an open doorway allows you to enter and depart from these surreal dreamscapes. Time stands still here – as no human dwells in these haloed portals. Seema is adept at creating a landscape in which, a pantheon of heavenly beings, are surreptiously caught in a mysterious twilight zone. The serene image of Lord Srinathji , regarded by the Rajasthanis as the God of Wealth, floats on a water body. Seema is adept at imagining a surreal garden, where Lord Ganesha is seated on a lotus or on his vahan . In yet another work, we catch a glimpse of the same deity in his eight headed avatar. In this series, Seema takes heed of the fact that Nepal has been regarded as a great tantric shakti staal or power centre, where the cult of the Goddess has lead to the worship of her many manifestations – from Virgin Goddess, to the wrathful Kali. Hence the portrayal of the Kumari, and the Nava Durgas (nine manifestations of the self same Goddess). The ten avatars of Vishnu ( matsya, kurma, varaha, narasimha, vamana, Parshuram, Rama, Buddha, Krishna and kalki) are also depicted in Expressions of Devotion which is in in keeping with the belief that Vishnu incarnates on Earth periodically to eradicate evil, to restore the Dharma and to liberate the worthy ones from cycle of birth and death. As Ram is one of the manifestations of Vishnu, Seema's work has a spiritual link to her husband's visual narrative of the Ramayan. Hanuman, the trusted representative and ardent devotee of Lord Ram finds a special place in the artist's work, as he is the way to the Lord. Seema also focuses on the other incarnations of Vishnu – Krishna and Buddha. The stories of Krishna Leela, the sublime power of the Pancha and Dipankar Buddha are portrayed in her prints .

Expressions of Devotion is a truly extraordinary body of work. The monumental prints in this series measures 40 inches x 80 inches, a feat which is painstakingly achieved by combining four plates together. The synergy of Uma and Seema's creativity is diabolic and their skill as printmakers manifest in the sheer size and composition of their works. The dexterous overlapping of printmaking techniques- etching, silkscreen, embossing and the use of mixed media, have resulted in a unique body of work that surpasses their own bar as pilgrims and artists.

Expressions of Devotion, successfully documents a great panorama of beliefs and motifs while sensitizing the viewer to Nepal's culture and heritage. With their art we embark upon a mystical journey and become voyeurs of their ever evolving spirituality.

Sangeeta Thapa

Director

Siddhartha Art Gallery-Baber Mahal Revisited

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