A KALEIDOSCOPE OF ART

A KALEIDOSCOPE OF ART

Words and figures, both conveying myriads of emotions is what one encounters in Latha Prem Sakhya’s second work  Nature at my Doorstep (2011).  Just like the warbling of the bird she empathies with, they soothe and disturb more than any music channel. The dexterousness of her thoughts, taking shape as poetry, sometimes prose and when there is a lull, the oil canvas sketches, speaks of the serenity, expression gives. To capture the kaleidoscopic vision of life, her words born of agony and ecstasy suffice (“Words From my Heart”).

Kanaka, Latha Sakhya’s alter ego, is a young woman, proud of her identity as a woman. Growing up in a convent, stifled by rules and regulations curbing her naturally impulsive nature, she feels hemmed in.  Groundless worries, ancient and traditional stories occupy her fertile mind. She revels in God’s potent presence. Life’s ups and downs are traversed in a knowing acceptance that God oversees all and that life awards us (“Colors of Eternity”). She speaks of contentment in the midst of large families, the love and the gaiety she enjoyed there and how empty life seems when people are not around. Kanaka, in her natural transition into middle age, speaks of the empty nest syndrome and the mother’s ‘sorrowful joy’ at the flight of the young one. Acceptance of the foibles of others and her overwhelming love towards all, which is Kanaka’s panacea, sees her sailing through life – pen, paint and canvas in hand.

Sweet, small anecdotes built around the world of animals show her interacting with them with a high level of empathy – the mischievous Tommy the cat, the bird’s self assured possession of her private space, the visiting robin, the love birds – and all are observed with affection and concern. Sakhya’s poetry vividly draws the scene which she later sketches for us. Her pencil shadow drawings reflect life as she would like it, idyllic and serene. Juxtaposed against this tranquillity are the ominous forebodings caused by the agonized hoot of the owl. The sight of the caged owl torments her soul. Throughout the collection there are conflicting images – the serene and the ruffled; solidity and change; rootedness and flux – both her poetry and her drawing show this duality.

Latha Sakhya’s oil canvas paintings show the turbulence of feeling. With her strong strokes and play of colors one can feel life and movement in the paintings.

“Spark” ironically speaks of the abandoned boy who grows up in a grey world only to be trampled and destroyed by his own hands. Life, struggling to go on, is reflected in the uprooted tree. Life has to be in the middle of humanity. The person on the deck of the schooner, lazily sailing along, longs to be back on land, reunited with his beloved.

The writer sees women in their innate strength and gentleness a combination of the tiger and the lamb of Blake – Mother Earth and Bhadrakali all rolled into one. Every woman has the wild side to her personality as can be seen in “Trapped Bird” where the protagonist, in the quiet of the night, is highly conscious of the trapped creature within her and yearns to flap her wings and soar to the limitless horizon. The cry of Mother Nature in “What am I Now” is a cry of frustration against the furies of the element and the cruel savagery of the humans.

Childhood memories also bring in the images of the tamarind tree and the swing. When the family moves to a new place she loses all that she holds dear and “Relationship” speaks of tenacious hold gone feeble. New rough terrains, streams and little mountains beckon her. In the lap of nature she feels a deep sense of serenity and calm.

Calamities and sufferings awaken the poetic harp in her. “Elizabeth” presents the painful rebirth of a Tsunami survivor. Vehement support for the downtrodden and the idealist are encapsulated in “To Irom Sharmila” and “To live freely”. Throughout there are images of both peace and turmoil. Even the placid pond, luxuriating in the thoughts of its creation, is ruffled by a sudden fall of stars . The catching of the tadpole, the children’s waiting for the mother’s arrival from work at the end of the day , the frog’s plight as summer sets in and then the rain  showers are all seen through the eyes of young Kanaka , whose joie d’ vivre is inimitable.

Love also occupies the mind of Kanaka, the protagonist.  She reads in a fairy tale romance of twin souls of platonic love. In “Did I tell You?” we encounter infatuation. But “Your love for me” speaks of the creative aspect of love to energize relationships.

With “Rocking Lap” the poet has broken free from her persona. Nostalgic memories of her story telling party, her inspirational mother and the idealistic relationship her parent shared comes crowding upon her. The pathos inherent in the acceptance of personal losses is what the last poem “In Memoriam” is all about.

 Prem Latha Sakhya’s rich tapestry of words and drawings is a well structured narrative, an amalgam of thoughts which express simple, deep feelings. It offers a short, sweet experience!!!!