The Write Shades

He wrote his poems in green ink,but more than 35 years after Chilean poet and politician Pablo Neruda’s demise,his work has been painted in varied hues. If the words of his famous poem,In the Illusion of Each Day,has led Chinese artist Han Bing to depict environmental degradation that comes with industrial development,artist Neha Choksi has painted the sapling of raat ki raani,that dots various parts of Mumbai. Delhi-based artist Pooja Iranna has created an installation,titled Everything is Not Straight,by bringing together hundreds of staple pins in a pattern. The three are part of a group of 12 artists who have taken inspiration from Neruda for the ongoing exhibition at Latitude 28.

“In this show,illusions breathe life into everything around us. They are far from being escapist denials of the world and life,” said gallerist Bhavna Kakar,even as connoisseurs looked at the artwork celebrating the work of the poet. “The interpretation is not always direct,” warned artist Kartik Sood,who has put up a site-specific installation,Moist Fear,that has photographs placed neatly on a wall,while the centre of the room has a lamp placed on a mattress. Suspended from the ceiling are objects like a lantern and horse sculpture in wood and leather. “This dwells on the notion of afterlife,” said Sood. Working in the room adjacent to him was artist Ranbir Kaleka,who has a man fighting with various facets of his personality in Sweet Unease,an oil and acrylic on canvas with video projection.

Iranian artist Malekeh Nayiny,meanwhile,has depicted chapters from her life in the photographic work titled Traces. While she looks into the camera on one side of the diptych,the other has her back towards the camera,and photographs suspended from top make a pile on the ground. “In 1993,when I was in New York,my mother died in Tehran. By the time I arrived in Iran,the funeral had taken place. Two years later,my father also died. All that was left for me were traces of their lives: their objects,letters and abandoned pictures. These traces connect me to my past,each one tells a different story of the time gone by,” said Nayiny,who is making her debut in India with this show. The words of the master,perhaps,never fail to inspire.

The exhibition at Latitude 28,F 208,Lado Sarai,is on till November 5. Contact: 46791111