Das capital

For artist couple Shampa Sircar and Sanjay Das, stillness emerges best from timeless travelling

For artist couple Shampa Sircar and Sanjay Das, stillness emerges best from timeless travelling

They call their work Dhyan. Paradoxically, it's about peace sourced from constant movement. But that's how life is. Traditionally, the state is about deep concentration, calmness and tranquility of the mind. It's considered to be an instrument of self-knowledge, separation of maya from reality, and a precursor to moksha. And Sanjay Das' photo-lens, with wife Shampa Sircar's palette, paints this pursuit with perfection. The city-based duo has tried to bring forth this aspect of universal consciousness without any religious shackles attached. While the photo-artist has tried to capture the essence in spaces, vastness, pulsating vibrations and journeys of life, his wife's canvases tell its story through a play of memory, influence of Buddhist and visual culture and a subtle shift in focus as part of her search for higher grounds for self-consciousness. In the process, their different media merge and the message only becomes stronger: Stay afloat to stay still. Only an artist can do justice to the explanation of their work, so THE GUIDE let them do the rest of the talking.



Sanjay Das: In meditation, there are different kinds of elements that we use -- water, fire and even musical instruments -- which I have portrayed in my abstracts. On my travels to Assam, Ladakh, Benaras and Vrindavan, I interpreted the inscriptions on monasteries, the tilak, drummers, aarti, diya. I want to show the brighter part of India (all the regions have their own colours). We travel around the country, live there for a few days, talk to the locals,u00a0 extract the root culture and then shoot and paint it. Meditation and indulging in prayer rituals isn't everything, but understanding the concept, facing troubles and experiencing hardships completes it.
I have learned a lot from S Paul, and he gave me what is needed to be a fine art photographer. This is just an effort by us; we're working on it.u00a0



Shampa Sircar: Dhyan, to me, is streamlining of thoughts. I have travelled from Ladakh to Lahore, taken images andu00a0 combined them with my own thoughts and actions. In the monasteries, there are positive and negative energies that prevail, but the positive always triumphs, just like it does, in life. I have picked elements from their walls with my own interpretations to them, with the lotus, conch, bell, tiger, white elephant and fish being some of them. I also liked the Tibetan text on flags and stones. There are faces, too, which show how contentment can come about in spite of conditions like poverty, cold and political deprivation. The purest forms of reds, golds, blues and yellows are predominant in my work. Using mix media and acrylic on canvas, I have attempted to create a perfect harmony between forms, textures and colours.

Dhyan
At Sridharani, Triveni Kala, Sangam, 205, Tansen Marg
Till January 17
11 am to 7 pm

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