The hold of memories: Navigating the tapestry of life
In the lead-up to the holiday season, I was sorting out boxes and cupboards and spent more time in reverie than actual clearing. The boxes, albums, and assorted artefacts evoked, like Elvis croons, “Memories, pressed between the pages of my mind…Quiet thoughts come floating down and settle softly to the ground”
For a dear family friend one such box yielded a treasure beyond his considerable wealth – his mother’s handwritten recipe book. His son has made a lovely little version that he’s soon going to publish. I have been helping him a bit and it’s been a wonderfully fun exercise as we try to figure out the people she used to cook for over a century ago.
Not all memories are ‘sweetened through the ages just like wine’. On Christmas Eve I went to a pop-up art show titled ‘Shadows Left Behind’ by Ravikumar Kashi. He is an adventurous artist and explores art through different formats, each unique and thought-provoking. In this show, Ravi explored his relationship with his mother, father and younger brother who died within a few years of each other. Coming to terms with these emotionally challenging moments lead him to explore his emotional and psychological connections with each of them. He wove a narrative through the display of artefacts – some personal, some professional. ‘In spite of their physical absence there are images, words, places, songs, objects, fabrics, textures, patterns, colours, sounds, and smells that trigger certain patterns of memory and open up the past. At the same time, an acute awareness of the fragile, ephemeral nature of the body remains omnipresent,’ read his note about the display.
‘My Father Said’ is a digital print on Chinese paper and copier ink transfer on banana fibre paper. The artist added his comments to his father’s journal and unravelled the thread of emotions – not tumultuous but not harmonious either. We paused to exchange our thoughts about the prickly nature of relationships between fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, and vice versa.
‘Singing Along with My Mom’ are digital prints which have his mother’s song books as a base of the imagery for this work. I found myself singing the verses on the wall – the words forming on my lips unbeknownst, floating up from my own childhood. Ravi is an atheist, but the divergent beliefs do not come in the way of love and empathy for his mother. He created these prints during a residency in Belforte del Chienti, an artist commune in Italy.
He said, ‘It is a tribute to my mother’s tenacity against all the odds that life threw at her. As I was creating these works, I realised that if you remove the aspect of religion, all the same fears, turbulences, and hopes are within me as well, and I’m singing along with her.’
While seeing his show, I was reminded of artist Shan Re’s show that we had co-hosted through the Under the Raintree platform in 2019. Some of Shan’s works are imbued with romanticism and some with mysticism, and they blend beautifully in ‘Exhumed Memories’.
When Shan opened her late husband’s storage box, she found a collection of old poems and unfinished journals from their shared past. She echoes our sentiments, ‘Memories are always… Some are blurred, some are buried deep inside me, and some are faded but they can never be erased.’
The artist used what she found in the box – old letters, poems, and pages of an unfinished manuscript to create text-based art installations. It formed a new visual language using materials with which she has deep emotional attachment. ‘Listening to the quiet voice within me I travelled through the unknown depths and infinite dimensions within myself’, she wrote.
The most striking exhibit is ‘Distortions of Retained Memories’ – of a tree trunk and mirrors. Wrapped around the tree trunk is handwritten text. For Shan, it represents a communication with the non-physical. The tree trunk is a metaphor for spiritual growth, and it is renewed from the inside out. She says, ‘Tree trunks and mirrors are usually portals between physical and non-physical. Mirrors can capture supernatural entities. They have magical powers, including the power to foretell the future and were considered to be devices of the divine. Through ‘scrying’ you can receive messages from the non-physical world. This is based on my perception and experience.’
As the new year begins, we are eager to shed the shadows of the past and embrace a metaphorical rebirth. We are reminded of the ephemeral nature of time, and we hasten to make the most of it. Sometimes we need a catharsis to let go of unshed tears, unspoken words, and unpursued actions. Acknowledging that reflection and release are essential steps toward personal growth and healing. Go open the box – up in the loft or deep within you.