Making a Bonsai tree may be a craft or industry; but it is cruel to deny a living thing a natural environment to spread out its canopy. A Painting Exhibition at the Russian Cultural Centre, Trivandrum showcases the unheard pangs of these forcefully domesticated trees let to grow in the dictated measurement. Gayatri Sundaram talks about the vast dimensions of this desperate struggle projected in deep colors.

In the IVth standard of the CBSE syllabus there is a lesson about how to make a Bonsai tree. It explains all the know-how s of that art of Bonsai and the hardships behind it. At the end of the lesson in the Exercise segment there is a question to say True or False.

‘Making of the Bonsai Tree is Cruel’. One of the students marked it as ‘True’. But the teacher corrected her saying ‘it is an art and a lot of people find their daily sustenance with this industry’. But that little girl was adamant and she said cutting the roots and branches in a pre-determined manner and barring them enough sunlight is cruel as the plant is a living being.  Teacher was in dilemma, but she told her student that according to the lesson in the text book, it is not cruel. At last in the examination paper that girl wrote the answer as ‘False’ and inside the bracket she added “but according to the text book it is ‘True”.

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Russian Cultural Centre Roerich Art Gallery is being echoed with some whispers of the interiors now. The Gallery has witnessed umpteen palettes of expressions so far, but in this particular event of a lively week, which is from November 26th to December 1st, it would carve a niche in the minds of thousands who can view and feel the whispers, forever. This time the exhibited paintings convey what the feminist hardliners shouted in fury.

N.B.Latha Devi, a Trichur based artist is all geared up for a solo exhibition of her paintings here. What is particular about this exhibition is all her 15 paintings tell the same tales, the same pangs to us. If we try to give an ear to those poems on canvas, we can hear what its evocative title “Echoes of Whisper in Interior” tell us.

Trees – myth and faith

Tree is always a favourite image for the artists to portray the various moods of Nature and Life.  Especially in Indian myths trees stand deep rooted symbolizing birth, growth, death, rebirth and self sacrifice. This vast dimension of Tree has inspired many artists to illustrate their feels in words and colors. Though not so tall as Van Gogh’s trees, many of our artists blended the myths and thoughts and vented it through the trees. In Bhagavat Gita, the peepal tree with hanging roots has been connoted as the philosophical image of wisdom and absolute knowledge. It is inside the harems of thick forests where our Great Seers got illuminated and enlightened to scribble the Classics to educate the human race.

When the issues like climate change and global warming hit the headlines, people began to curse one another for the destruction of trees. As for any event, tree-planting ceremonies are being celebrated across the country under the solemn leadership or sponsorship of big guns. But as usual, follow ups are few and we forget what we have done along with the chips down.

“Being human connotes humanity but often it seems to be the reverse and the other inhabitants the flora and fauna have to undergo several ordeals due to his selfishness. Our culture has born out in the interiors of the forest where we grew as the children of trees. As the human race progressed, we learned to clog and gag anything and anyone superior to us” says Latha Devi when asked about the choice of her unique theme.

After coming out of the wild life, we learned the art of deforestation. In the next step we learned to grow the forest in our own yards on utilitarian basis. Further progress made the lawns debase the trees spreading their canopy. In the latest step we learned the art of Bonsai. This is the theme of this solo exhibition. Here, Lata Devi has evolved another icon painting 15 trees in 15 different canvases in an apparently different tone, deliberately avoiding the physical presence of a human being.

Bonsai –an art of cruelty

“The tree that is outside in the free atmosphere receiving sunlight and rain is selfishly domesticated by humans to make it a motif of love for nature and to decorate the narrow space (mind) of human domain without thinking of the cruelty of the ‘dwarfening’ process. The Architecturally imprisoned tree is the self for Latha Devi whose existential plight as a human being is juxtaposed in the ‘dwarfened’ tree image…”, comments  Vijayakumar Menon, the Art Critic and Historian on Latha Devi’s paintings.

A keen observer of Nature, a committed artist with a self of her own, Latha Devi could bring out all the silent struggles and pangs of the tree selfishly domesticated to decorate the homes, into her canvas. We amaze to see a 40 year old peepal tree in someone’s living room, with a height up to our knee greets us with a pale smile. Wondering over its fatally tumorous stem, we stoop to see its entangled roots peeping out of the pot. We appreciate the person behind this art of bonsai, for his hard work, patience and the artistic flavor for making it trapped inside a dictated measurement. But we never give ear for the silent cry of that tree, a living being, for its natural growth, though it is supplied with water, light and manure in an optimum amount so as to maintain an element of life. At times like the aforesaid student, some among us identify and empathize but often fail to respond.

Expressions of suppression

‘Echoes of Whisper in Interior’ hinges on the pangs of solitude. The similar-themed pictures talk to us about the ‘dependent independence ‘and love-laced shackles in relationships. Through the relative freedom in the artificial environment lets the Bonsai into a desperate struggle. In one of her picture we see the embarrassed lonely leaf fallen amidst the remains of the bamboo pieces imprisoned inside the four walls, well decorated.  We see it as unable to express what it belongs to and what it wants to communicate to the world.

On another canvas we see a thorny lemon plant bearing a tiny fruit bottled and placed near the window panes, brooding with a hope of its opening on some day. In another picture, we feel our eyes wet when we find the smiling pale flower on the creeper embracing a dead stem.  We search inside for a moment when we spot the desperate struggle of the roots to go deep but in vein, come out of the concrete pot hanging like scarecrows. In another frame we come to know how ‘himsa’ can be domesticated by bottling a Bodhi tree!!

In all her pictures, Latha Devi has incredibly laced up her deep knowledge of Vastusastra to place the ‘living room decoration’ in the ‘proper position’. A nostalgic Kerala terrain devoid of its acclaimed lushness is being visualized through an interior frame in one of her pictures. Kerala architecture with its unparalleled dimensions is artistically blended into her frames, especially when the strokes touch the majestic beams and pillars of the rooms where these beings are imprisoned forcefully.

An Artist called Latha Devi

When asked beyond the pictures, Latha Devi reminded of her interview with Scrollindia, at its launch in January. But without hesitation, she repeated her dabbling experiences in multiple roles with short nights and busy days.

This one is her third solo exhibition and as an updated artist she is always on the wheels to snatch the novice happenings in the field of Art. Even while seated at the General Council of Kerala Lalithakala Academy, she finds pleasure in decanting her artistic talent into thousands of her students ranging from 4 to 80 years old.

(Please go through this link to know more about this artist :  http://www.scrollindia.com/women-zone/kerala-artist-excelled-painter-woman-artist/ )

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1. An Artist Called Lata Devi
2. Tale of a Kosseril Mango tree