SHREYA YUGENDRANAG mourning
MOURNING The Works of Shreya Yugendranag
Work on cover: “SHIVA ANNOINTING THE SOUL OF THE ANCESTOR” Henna, photograph 2014 2
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 7 Mourning Through Ritual 9 Mourning Through Experiences and Stories 17 Artist Interview, by Siddhant Nirula 28 Exhibitions and Publicity 33 Contact Information 35
4
5
INTRODUCTION I enjoy highlighting delicate design work. I draw a lot of inspiration from Indian rituals. These two sentences provide my work the basis of its style and concept. I always tended to fuss over detail in my work. I used to start drawing after having a narrative in mind. I didn’t realize it right away, but my tendency to look for stories stemmed from the way I grew up. I was always told about the myths and legends of gods and demons in Hinduism. I was fascinated by the richness of these stories and rituals. They were a part of my identity, but strangely, were also removed from my everyday life. All the rituals my family practiced were formal, and while they taught me discipline, they didn’t let me step back and understand the beauty of these rituals. Using art, I now dwelve in ritual in a very different way. I draw in order to understand a ritual’s aesthetics, how it summons emotion from people, and how it helps them learn connect to thoughts that they cannot express in words. Art is a vehicle, and ink and henna my medium, in connecting to others and the rituals people experience.
“SHIVA: TRANSFER AND THE SNAKE” Henna, photograph 2014 6
MOURNING THROUGH RITUAL On September 4, 2014, my grandfather passed away. He was a pious man, and in his memory, I began to reflect on formal Hindu rituals regarding death and mourning. This body of work was inspired by tradition and custom, and is extremely formal unlike my work later. It focuses on a type of mourning that is expected of an individual through culture.
8
9
I strongly felt like the first stage of mourning was prior to the death of the individual. Anticipating tragedy shows an extremely desperate and raw side of an individual. sarva-dharman parityajya mam ekam saranam vraja aham tvam sarva-papebhyo moksayisyami ma sucah Translation Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.
“LAST RITES� Henna, photograph 2014 10
After the death of the individual, family members and friends go through a period of cleansing and prayer. These rituals are important in getting rid of any impurities that the deceased might have left be-hind. The crematory wood used is heavy in symbolism. Other than its use for building the funeral pyre, the wood encloses the deceased and represents a womb for their re-birth. After the cremation, the family members pray for days. Most Hindu prayers are ended with the dev-otee prostrating in reverence.
“PRAYER� Henna, photograph 2014 12
The name of Shiva has various pronounciations, one of them being ‘Shivudu’. Shiva is instrumental in rituals regarding the transformation of the soul of the deceased into that of an ancestor. The transformation itself is of utmost importance, as a failed transfer is believed to result in ghosts or disturbed spirits. The snake is the most common being associated with Shiva.
”SHIVUDU” Henna, photograph 2014 14
MOURNING THROUGH EXPERIENCES AND STORIES After creating my previous seires, I reflected. I had learnt a lot about my culture and religion; however, I was not satisfied at how disconnected and formal my works were. Mourning, to me, was much more emotional and raw. Most people described it as something quiet and somber, or lively and celebratory of life. Thus, the following works were created as a reaction against these previous pieces. They aimed to be opposite in every way. They looked for stories and experiences, and tried to connect with other mourners. Sometimes, the focus of a design was a family member, sometimes a friend, and sometimes about oneself.
16
17
Colour and vibrancy! This design was meant to be lively and playful, and was created in order to celebrate life. Created for a music and fun-loving grandfather, the upper half of the design is dedicated to Iain McIntyre. It draws on his love of bagpipes, as well as a much more somber part of his life- that of dementia. Iain also had a love for the arts, and was a fantastic painter. The lower half of the design is dedicated to Iain’s granddaughter, the woman who’s arms you see in this photo. The designs here are triangular, her favourite shape. While she experienced a lot of sadness, guilt and remorse over her grandfather’s passing, she also believes that the memory of someone deceased should be filled with joy instead of anguish.
“IAIN MCINTYRE” Henna, photograph 2014 18
An author, lover of music and a dear friend. The top half of the design depicts two scenes: the first being Malcolm’s deteriorating health, and the second his memorial. These events severely affected Paul Rappaport, Malcolm’s good friend, and the man you see here in the photo. The lower half of the design caters to their love of music, and is a response to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th movements of the Symphony No. 1, “The Gothic” by Havergal Brian. This symphony was listened to and analyzed many times by Paul and Malcolm.
“MALCOLM MACDONALD” Henna, photograph 2014 20
Detail of “MALCOLM MACDONALD” Henna, photograph 2014 22
To a cousin who took his own life. To a friend who passed away from cancer. And to a much more humanitarian sense of mourning, based on volunteer work in Peru. This work is dedicated to more than one person. This work was about spirituality. It acknowledges the darkness in the world, and that things are not supposed to be that way.
“ANONYMOUS� Henna, photograph 2014 24
26
INTERVIEW By Siddhant Nirula, a business graduate with an interest in the arts
Nirula: How important is spirituality and ritual in your work? Yugendranag: I use ritual in my art in a way to express my identity and thoughts, but also as a way to better understand my own roots and experiences. Hindu rituals influence my work because it is a part of who I am. I will always pull from those experiences and translate them into my work. I think that spirituality fasinates me; however, I’d rather not have it as a primary focus in my work. My work is seen by some as having spiritual tendencies, and that’s all. I think subtle cues work better when dealing with massive topics like spirituality and ritual. I mainly do my own thing. I don’t actively try to make my work ritualistic or spiritual, but when it happens- I don’t stop it. My main intention is to reflect, and make others reflect. With my Cremation series, I began by going to my own experiences, and used ritual to get closure and heal. However, that is only how I started. As I progressed, I looked to others with their own powerful experiences, and I tried to involve their process of healing in my work. I suppose that’s what evokes a sense of spirituality- the act of healing is very personal, and is often shown through some form of inner peace. I want to tap into the viewer’s meaningful emotions, whether about something universal like death or light-hearted like spices. While they all strongly relate to Hindu rituals, what is perhaps more important is their emotive quality, and how that translates to my viewers.
I also have an obsession with making my work practical in some way. Other than identifying with these images, I’m curious to know whether my work helped stimulate some reflection. How did this benefit your life, and what purpose did it serve you? I’m fascinated by my audience’s response since my work is a lot about them as much as about me. At the end of the whole thing though, I do sit back and consider what I learnt through the entire process. And if I get to the next step of whatever stage I’m in, I deem that work a success. To me, there’s nothing worse than making art that’s hollow of meaning and purpose. My belief is that- if this work means nothing to me, why should anyone else take something form it, or even care? The last thing I’d ever want my work to be is presentious. I want to create work off stories and experiences that are genuine and full of possiblity. I don’t want my work to be anything close to a one-dimensional visual.
Nirula: How does your work translate to people who are from your culture, and those who are unfamiliar with it? Yugendranag: I think that, regardless of culture, some themes are universal. People from all over the world have experiences regarding death or mourning in some format. They all cope with it in different ways, and I’d think different people would gravitate towards different parts of my work. However, with works that are more specific to Indian tradition, such as the earlier works in the series, I love the range of responses I receive. People familiar with the tradition feel nostalgic, while those unfamiliar with it are curious. Some enjoy seeing something so close to home in an abstract form. Others appreciate something unknown to them for its aesthetic quality, and are fascinated by its conneciton to ritual.
Nirula: What is the most important thing to incorporate in your work and why? Yugendranag: I’m sure everyone’s thought about this question in one way or another. I have a different answer with specific bodies of work. For my Cremation series, all my works were formal and tied to tradition. They weren’t vulnerable like my works on people’s experiences and stories. However, the most important thing to incorporate in both was a sense of purpose. I wanted someone to look at these works and identify with them in some way. 28
Nirula: Explain your process in starting each body of work? Do you yourself have a ritual or pattern? What thoughts are more important than others? Yugendranag: I always brood and research before I even consider sketching. Research, notes, organizing facts, being scientific and accurate- I become obsessed with quantifying my concept. Then, after the ground work is done, I let go of that high factual precision and dwell on my
experiences. Am I nervous about this topic? Am I distressed, or confused? Why do I feel compelled to make work about this, and what questions am I trying to answer? The answers to these thought won’t be listed in journals and notebooks, and so, I’ll start drawing. After a few preliminary works, I begin to understand my own aims, and then the focus begins. I also have a tendency to create works witihn my series that are a reaction against the preliminary or first few works that I create. It’s strange. It’s almost like my beliefs have entirely changed through the process. As for what thoughts are more important than others...in all honesty, what I always find surprising is how different my start and end product will be. For that reason, I can’t pinpoint what I value more and less, because the ‘most important thought’ changes as I go through it. Everything changes all the time. For instance, I was always nervous about involving photography in my work. However, when I had finished an installation one day and was photographing it, I became obsessed with how henna looked different in a photo than it did on my textiles or prints. I wanted to explore it on the human body, where it is traditionally applied. This gave me the first spark of inspiration for my Cremation series. The process can be so sponetaneous. I think a lot of the meaning in it would be lost if I tried to control my thoughts and overly focus on one thing more than another.
Nirula: What are your future objectives? Where do you think this will lead you next? Yugendranag: I really liked involving other people’s experiences into my work, and am looking to continue doing that. Even if it is my work, the influence from others (from comments or presence in the work) teaches me so much. It adds more depth to my work, and I think it makes my work more relateable. It allows me to voice the opinions of more than one person, and really get to capitalize on the strong emotional possibilities there. It also allows me to think from more than one perspective. I’m not sure where the interactions and works will lead me, but I hope to create work that continues to deepen with meaning.
Nirula: From a technical perspective, how do you approach your henna? What makes one design successful from another? Yugendranag: This is often a fine line when I make work. The difference between a successful design and unsuccessful design is often not in the content, but everything that markets it- size, colour, texture and light. Size lets me play with intimacy. While my designs are proportionally small and focused on detail work, enlarging the designs through photographs or multiplying them through print lets me see the affect they can have on a massive scale. Things don’t need to be small to be intimate for a viewer. Colour is usually a huge part of my work. I like bright, warm tones. My Cremation series is the first time I’ve felt it necessary to mute down colour, and I think that comes with the concept. It’s much more somber and quiet than my other themes, and the colour should reflect that. Light relates to this the same way- with works heavily concentrated on ritual ceremonies, I use lights to make my works seem illuminated or shadowed. Texture refers to what I put my designs on, and how the tactile qualities of that medium change the message of the work. 30
31
Exhibitions and Publicity Education: Bachelor of Fine Arts, McMaster University, 2015
32
- November, 2014: Featured in Incite Magazine - October, 2014: Featured in Incite Magazine - September, 2014: Exhibited and provided henna services in the Queen West Art Crawl - September, 2014: Featured in Incite Magazine - September, 2014: Exhibited and sold work at the Queen West Art Crawl, while also offering henna services for the event - August, 2014: Provided henna servies for FCN at Ponderosa Nature Resort - March, 2014: Exhibited for the Cootes to Escarpment Ecopark System in “Naturally Connected” at the Royal Botanical Gardens - March, 2014: Exhibited and auctioned for the Cootes to Escarpment Ecopark System in “Naturally Connected” at McMaster University - March, 2014: Exhibited at the “Crazy for Art Festival & Coffee House” by COPE McMaster, at McMaster University - February, 2014: Exhibited at TEDx McMaster, at McMaster University - February, 2014: Applied henna for the Chiasmata Art Auction at McMaster University - January, 2014: Featured in Incite Magazine for art piece, “Churches” - November, 2013: Applied henna in the McMaster Silent Art Auction - November, 2013: Designed banner for Academy of Indian Music, San Diego - October, 2013: Designed logo for McMaster Sumabot Competition - October, 2013: Collaborated with twenty emerging artists for street art mural. Event was featured in McMaster Daily News - September, 2013: Participated in en plein air work with artist Jim Reed and exhibited with him. Event was featured in McMaster Daily News. - August, 2013: Exhibited in “Mapping Paradise” with artist Greg Schlanger. Event was featured in McMaster Daily News as well as other sites. - March, 2013: Featured in online page, “Slippers’s Picks” - November, 2012: Displayed work at the Carnegie Gallery for the Emerging Artist Competition - November, 2012: Displayed and sold work at the Focus Gallery for the event, ArtBeat - October, 2012: Applied henna for the McMaster Night Market, at McMaster University - October, 2011: Exhibited a collaboration with Natalie Richard in Whitby Station Gallery for “Rock, Paper, Scissors” - November, 2009: Designed logo for DNV Trend Development
Contact Information SHREYAYN@GMAIL.COM
Website and Social Media www.shreyayn.com www.shreyayn.com/blog www.instagram.com/shreyayn
34
Copyright and Disclaimer All images are the property of Shreya Yugendranag, and will not be distributed, re-printed, commercially used or altered without the consent of the owner.