I am what I am; I will be what I will be.

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

A Death Foretold



















A death foretold across oceans
Sorrow is a liminal frame of mind
Its presence marks its absence

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Street Art

These are not the works of Picassos of this world, but of painters whose names we might never know. No reviews will be written about them unless some fancy biennale in some posh corner of the planet suddenly assumes that street art might actually be sexy. Afterwards, the art and the artists will quite possibly be forgotten except in the catalogs. But sometimes, a few vagabonds might pause just long enough to capture their colors, shades and lines if not the politics and nuances.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 



Thursday, August 18, 2011

Shadow

Shadow is; it will be
It may multiply; a pretence of company
It is intangible, liminal, momentary

Scream - මුරදීම

Scream, plead as you will
No ears will hear even an echo
You and I are alone

මුරදෙන්න, බැගෑපත්වන්න රිසි පරිදි ඔබ
සාංකාවක්වත් නොවැටෙනු ඇත කිසිදු දෙසවනක
නොදැනේද තනිවම බැව් ඔබත් මාත් ?




Memory/Amnesia

Stories: non-life, pathos, fear, chaos
Who remembers; what is forgotten; what remains?
Welcome to amnesia; lapsed memories

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Revisiting Maruki Museum

I revisited the Maruki Gallery on August 13th 2011, about three weeks after my first visit. August 13th was a Saturday. As such, there were more people to visit the collection on that day, including my own group, which consisted of about 10 people.


















It was a pleasure to see people who were keenly interested in the collection and what it meant. There were some others who had also sacrificed their Saturday to visit this somewhat out of the way and somber if not ‘depressing’ place. Nevertheless, I think what I noted in my post ‘August 6th’ basically remains valid. Given the significance of the collection in terms of memory, many people’s interest in it seems to be marginal at best going by the low turnout even though this Saturday was much better in numbers than the last time I was here.

This time, I thought I should capture some of the details of the Marukis’ work rather than attempting to photograph entire panels. In any case, the museum staff had politely requested not to photograph the panels in their entirety. The out of context images are mere details of the vast collection; and in many ways disperses the larger narratives the artists were interested in weaving. Nevertheless, the details are my own way of refocusing on the original work, though I have clearly fragmented them in the process. They also become different artworks when fragmented in this fashion. Nevertheless, I believe that the fragments also narrate the same story, but perhaps at somewhat lessened states of intensity.

Details of the Hiroshima Panels, Nagasaki Panel, Minamata Panel, Auschwitz Panel and Rape of Nanking Panel, Maruki Museum, Saitama, 13th August 2011:













 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 





Monday, August 15, 2011

Hallucination?

Life transformed, vision altered; hallucination
Fragments of culture, obscure vestiges of nature
Imagine madness: disconnected, delusional, colored



Shades

In a corner, sullen, motionless
Rise like unconscious thoughts in routine rituals
No longer in sight; disappeared


Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Incense

Incense burn; perfumed smoke rises
Deities in heavens seem to care not
Beyond smoke’s reach, they revel





Music(s)

Leaves, rustle, water offered music
Noh’s strings and chants had no ears
Keyboard’s melancholy captured the hearts





The Devil Resides in Details

(In)convenience of a limited frame
Mind’s eye breathes, absorbs the larger world
The devil resides in details