Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan ‘s work revolves around complexities of identity, the ambiguous nature of belonging, memory and nostalgia.
NID provided a systematic attitude to my artistic practice, at the most fundamental level thinking about colour. A painter can be intuitive with the application of colour and form. Which while weaving or printing is a carefully planned and executed affair.
Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan
Featured image: Exhibition view. Kulturforum Alte Post Städtische Galerie, 2012.
Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Image credit: Mohit Gupta.
Please tell us a little about yourself, what brought you to the world of art and how did you start?
I am a visual artist currently based in Hyderabad. My family has musicians, dancers, theatre professionals. And we are actively and deeply engaged with literature and cultural practices. While growing up in Central India, it was a given that I would have a creative life. I was encouraged to learn music, express myself through painting and work with my hands. My inclination to the visual medium led me to the Faculty of Fine Arts Baroda for a degree in Painting, followed by a master’s in textile design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad. My practice is a combination of the distinct pedagogies of fine arts and design. Where one sets you free to explore and express, the other makes you aware of the parameters of society, sustainability, livelihoods and functionality.
My work has responded to complexities of identity, the ambiguous nature of belonging, thinking about memory and nostalgia. Taking various forms, it is a collage of presence and absence, of what is lost and gained. Along with indiscernible acts of faith, defiance, and hope, it has filmed the mappable. I work between mediums of paper, stationary, cloth, found objects and layered narratives. Over the years, I’ve shown in galleries and been an artist in residence in India and Europe; taught at various institutes, and made art for covers of iconic Penguin Random House titles.
Featured image: Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Exhibition view. Kulturforum Alte Post Städtische Galerie, 2012.
Prof KG Subramanyam was my conceptual bridge between studying painting and entering the world of design.
Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan
What inspires you?
My education ensured I saw the idea of making, art or textile, in a broader perspective of livelihood, ecology, culture, heritage, utility and aesthetics. It redefined the idea of freedom in relation to the constraints.
Prof KG Subramanyam was my conceptual bridge between studying painting and entering the world of design. KG’s work expanded my understanding of seeing the interconnectedness in the diverse practices. NID provided a systematic attitude to my artistic practice, at the most fundamental level thinking about colour. A painter can be intuitive with the application of colour and form. Which while weaving or printing is a carefully planned and executed affair. I have learned a lot by working closely in my discipline, textiles and interacting with traditional practitioners, along with exposure to architecture, furniture design, graphic design and film-making.
Let’s talk about your frameworks, references, and process.
I often feel my life is a documentation project, noting circumstances, perspectives, and lives that I encounter. Thus, my work becomes a visual archive. My trajectory of migration has made me conscious of the relationship between memory and movement. I have lived across the country, sometimes near borders and a few stints abroad. I contemplate the narratives of belongingness, identity and nationhood, as I gather experiences of an itinerant life. This constant displacement has redefined my idea of home. And its association with permanence and temporariness, remembering and forgetting, attachment and detachment.
Over a period of time, I have been able to reflect, respond and visually translate many such concepts in my work and drawings. Drawing is crucial to my practice and a process in itself. To draw is to express, conceal or reveal, just as is spoken or written language. Even the word drawing is expansive. You draw ideas; in weaving, you draw a warp and in defence, you draw or mark a border. Sometimes drawings are a scaffold for new ideas to grow.
How do you deal with the conceptual difficulty and uncertainty of creating work?
Confronting conceptual difficulties is a part of any creative process. I usually work through uncertainty by doing. I fall back on reading poetry, philosophy, history of art, films and photographs. When unsure, I dig deeper with historical and literary material, engaging critically.
Exhibition view. Gallery Shrine Empire. 2017. Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Work on display: Floor plan.
What would you call your style? Let’s talk about the evolution of your practice over the years. Tell us about your commitment to your current medium.
I think of my “style” not in a visual sense, but conceptually. I have always been invested in telling stories that leave room for enquiry. And in the exploration of subtexts, connotations and subtleties, which speak from absence and removal as much as their presence. Like the elements of language like a period, comma and dash, visually convey meaning, I communicate via lines and spaces.
My work often returns to the constructs of home, memory, identity and I place myself in a web of thoughts that had (have?) personal / emotional / ethical significance. These disparate aspects are spun into an image and regularly placed in conversation with each other. I find myself committed to the paper as a medium. I draw and paint on it, cut it, stitch it, even paste it! Paper engages me for diversity; it can be transported easily, folded, rolled, cut and quickly decomposed. Paper may be light and fragile but has the potential to be a weapon when used to publish documents of division/partition/divorce or a death sentence. Paper is political.
What was your first sale? Do you handle the commercials yourself or is it outsourced to a gallery/agent?
Although not my first, a memorable sale was in Koelnischer Kunstverein, Cologne, Germany. I wanted to travel to Italy and France in the last few weeks of my six-month residency program. I saved some money from my monthly stipend, but not enough for the trip I envisioned. As luck would have it, I was invited to participate in Jahresgaben, an annual sale for the members of the institute, and offered four works. I sold all four at good prices and made more than enough money to travel! I went to Florence, Sienna, and of course, Paris where I even bought a few supplies, money very well spent!
These days, I handle my own commercials but when I sell through a gallery, like Shrine Empire, where some of my latest works are on sale, we agree to conditions and terms beforehand.
Video Installation. Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Lakeer (film). Duration 5 min. 2014.
What are you looking for when you look at other artists’ work?
Rasanubhava.
What emotions does the artwork evoke in me, and how does the artist manage that? What is the process from inspiration or the germ of the idea to its final manifestation? I am interested in the minds of artists as well as their context. I’m curious about their process and what nourishes them. Artist’s notebooks and sketchbooks are interesting. As students, we learned to look at great art, and those of our peers. To be able to respond critically to both, the master’s and the beginners, skills which still persist. It isn’t about the ‘nature’ of the artwork. I am drawn equally to intimate, poetic, intuitive works as well as the more studied rigorous technique, research and planning driven art, extending to architecture, cinema and music!
Which shows, performances and experiences have shaped your own creative process? Who are your maestros?
Although not directly reflected in my work, I find myself referring to varied miniature painting traditions, for their treatment of nature and narratives. Especially the sublime work of 17th century artist, Ustad Mansur, the master artist of Jahangir’s court, and the 18th century master-artist, Nainsukh of Guler. My process is incomplete without an engagement with the treasure trove of Indian poetry and literary traditions from Kalidasa’s Meghdhootam to Kabir to Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s songs of the revolution. The aspiration is to transcend, the way music does.
I’m quite influenced by (this is not a complete list) Georgio Morandi, Vincent Van Gogh(more for his drawings), Nasreen Mohamedi, Zarina Hashmi and Hans Shimansky. For their aesthetic of space, use of materials in its purest form: Le Corbusier, Erwin Heerich, Peter Zumpthor George Nakashima and Gottfried Bäum.
How does your audience interact and react to the work you put out into the world?
With resonance, I hope. Unexpected conversations have taken place, especially with defence personnel, after a special screening of a short-film I made. My audience and I had to shed preconceived notions, and we met in the realm of pure expression. Protocol was sidestepped for the sake of art, and thus, a real discussion took place. That interaction was both touching and satisfying.
Exhibition-view: Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Westwerk Hamburg, 2017.
What were you working on when the lockdown was announced? How has this affected your practice and plans?
I spent February travelling around Central India. The lockdown found me in the middle of assimilating photographic references and making preparatory drawings. Once the lockdowns were enforced, I could not go to my studio. I had to manage with art materials and papers available at home. I had to adapt to this confinement and learn to make do with much less in terms of space and materials. Taking to frugality and functioning with mindfulness, I had to devise alternate methods of working. For a while now I have been reusing material, being careful of the environmental consequences of waste. I had no choice but to reduce, reuse, recycle. Working through these challenges, a new series called ‘Fragments’ has emerged.
What would elevate artists’ life during this period?
Artists respond to each crisis differently. The lockdown has been a crisis on its own. Other movements have also erupted simultaneously, in India and across the world. This is the time for us to observe, listen, and make our voice heard. The online world has been a space to meet, talk, learn, and protest. Online sales and viewings, social media campaigns to support precarious artists are steps in the right direction, but this is the time for the artist to think beyond herself and help society articulate demands and lead the way through artistic practice. We need to make space for marginalised voices, support causes and each in our own way make better choices.
(left) Exhibition view: Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Galerie Altepost Neuss.
Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan (right) In conversation with Dr Barbara Koenches, Director, Zero Foundation Duesseldorf and Alke Reeh (Artist, Duesseldorf)
What is the primary role of an artist? How do you describe yourself in the context of challenging people’s perspectives via your work and art?
Art is important and the artist is only a conduit. If the work is substantial, it will survive beyond the physical presence of the maker.
Personally, I respond to my circumstances and the issues that resonate with me. I reference everyday ideas and experiences frequently. Which are then transformed, through my explorations. The materials I use are commonplace, loaded with their own set of semiotics. I invite the viewer to work through issues by looking closer and digging into their own experiences with life.
I enjoy interacting with students and teach regularly, often using my work and practice as a pedagogical tool. They relate to my work, share their own experiences, and we grow together with each class, which is a gratifying feeling.
Think of the biggest professional risk you’ve taken. What helped you take that risk?
Perhaps my biggest professional risk was to move out of Bombay, where I had recently begun to show my work and develop a circle. Every couple of years, I moved across India, sometimes to obscure border towns. Away from a hub of thriving art activity to a perceived periphery with restricted movement and patchy connectivity. I had to develop faith and resilience in my process, in my own time and space. I had to seek my inspiration, work through ideas independently and resolve issues. This grounding strengthened my art practice.
POST. Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. Papercollage with brown envelopes. 78.7 x 106 cm. 2017.
Any mentor, curator or gallerist who deserves a special mention for furthering your journey? What is the best piece of advice you’ve received?
I don’t have to look far for inspiration: my father. An engineer in his day job, he is an innovator, entrepreneur and has a keen interest in music and culture. He is constantly drawing and writing, exploring tech and concepts. He effortlessly moves between abstract ideas, mathematics, philosophy, art and practicalities of daily existence. Wherever he goes, you can count on his out-of-box solutions, whether in factories or in the kitchen! His insistence that work must go on is my motto, no matter what the circumstance, he has taught us to be creative and self-sufficient.
Are you more of a studio artist or naturally collaborative by nature? How do you feel about commissions?
Circumstances have led me to be I am comfortable on my own. I value a good collaborator, when the opportunity arises. I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot working (and often staying with) Alke Reeh, a German artist collaborator, now turned friend. In our first show in India, called Reflections, we responded to the idea of gates. Wherein, her work was more structural and mine, more conceptual.
Photo Dastavez. Contemporary Artist Shruti Mahajan. From Letter Book Series. Paper collage with stitching and drawing, 2019.
What are you working on now? What’s coming next season?
The ‘new’ project began in September 2019, at the Kunsthistorisches Institut, in Florence (Max Planck Institut), where I was an artist in residence. I have brought back several ideas from the museums and my time in Florence, merging them with my explorations of spaces and architectural fragments, in India. The world has changed irrevocably. And my responses to it are also evolving. Movement which was once a lament, is now out of question. There is now a complex associations of loss, responsibility, and privilege. My ideas are nascent, but slowly finding shape. Like everything else, current swaddled in uncertainty.
Before you go – you might like to browse our Artist Interviews. Interviews of artists and outliers on how to be an artist. Contemporary artists on the source of their creative inspiration.
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