One of the most intriguing works to come from the Indian subcontinent to the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT 6) is the artist book titles The One Year Drawing Project. The work, commissioned by Sri Lanka-based Raking Leaves, an independent publisher of contemporary artists’ book projects, is on loan at the APT6 from the Anupam and Lekha Poddar Collection. The work consists of 208 individual drawings by four senior Sri Lankan practitioners, Muhanned Cader, Thamotharampillai Shanaathanan, Chandraguptha Thenuwara and Jagath Weerasinghe. The project in fact took two and a half years to complete from May 2005 to October 2008 and involved each artist creating one drawing, posted out to one of the others. Like a series of correspondence letters, each artist would respond to the previous drawing by creating his own. Walking along the wall of the Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane, where the individual works hang, is to walk through the artists’ subconscious—particular moments of contemplation and expression in different parts of Sri Lanka.
Indian Link talks to the Raking Leaves founder and curator, Sharmini Pereira, about the making of the One Year Drawing Project.
Q What inspired you to start the project in 2005 and what was your vision?
A The inspiration for the project came from different directions. I was interested in whether it was possible to curate a project with more than one artist that took the form of a book and not an exhibition.
This underlying vision was what inevitably led me to establish Raking Leaves. I was interested in the format of the book as an object, as something that could be distributed and sold, exchanged and gifted. I was particularly intrigued by the shared interest that all four artists had in drawing, which was rarely looked at.
More specifically I was interested to set into play a process through which drawings were generated as a response or dialogue over a period of time. Artistic exchange and collaboration are frequently talked about but what do such undertakings actually involve. Or more pertinently, what do the give rise to?
3. How did the c
ivil war situation affect the project? Were there any threats in continuing this project during that time?
Fortunately there were no incidents stemming from the conflict that affected the project's completion. I think the effects of the war were more liminal.
A civil war brings a great deal of turmoil and disruption to daily life: power cuts; security check points; no-go zones etc. They say truth is one of the first victims of war but time is also a forgotten victim. Everything stands still during a conflict. The future doesn't arrive until one force defeats another, whilst the past or history is what sanctions the basis of war.
It's not without consequence that The One Year Drawing Project took 28 months to complete. And it’s certainly no coincidence that many drawings mark and punctuate moments of a situation that each of the artist's have been living and working amidst as part of their everyday.
4. Can you tell us a little about the motifs used by the artists in these works—some motifs are often repeated, like the giraffe—what is the significance of the imagery used?
Muhanned uses a cut-out shape as his first drawing. The use of such a devise is typical of his work. The cut-out appears to resemble an animal or creature of some kind but it has no specific reference. One writer has argued that it is a map of Sri Lanka, which if anything seems to suggest how powerful the element of ambiguity is in Muhanned's work.
Chandraguptha's camoflauge patterns elicit a similar duality, entwining flowers such as the Eelam national flower with falling bodies and simple swirls. Buried in the exchange of drawings there's also a portrait of the prime minister.
Shanathanan's drawings are perhaps the most afflicted. Yet also the most, playful in their laconic wit that he combines with bombs and anatomical details.
6. In your opinion, has this project changed the artists' new works or has the exchange of drawings influenced them?
I think an artist's work is always evolving. To spend 28 months working on a project inevitably brings changes to one's practise.
Other than stylistic changes, what the OYDP highlights is the ability to expose yourself to another's comments. To be able to sustain such a process is probably what distinguishes the project in terms of how it questions who influences who and where agency to change lies.
8. As a cura
tor, what did you expect would turn out of such a project and was the final result surprising for you?
In commissioning the project as a book, I stipulated that each drawing should be no larger than A4 in size and that each artist produce 52 drawings as part of the exchange.So my expectation in terms of what would be produced was that there would in the end be 208 drawings that would be bound together as one volume.
Curatorially, I could not be sure that one artist would not drop out or abandon the project after a few months. What was surprising is that it took on its own momentum. Drawings were done without adhering to a timetable. So long as the exchange was not broken the project continued.
What was surprising was that the time required to produce something didn't matter as much as the intention to be involved. Once all the drawings were compiled at the end of the project, all my initial expectations were reduced to nothing more than a concept, which had now been shaped and formed in the hands and minds of four extraordinary artists into something much more beguiling and powerful than any curatorial projection could have imagined.
9. Has this project been shown in Sri Lanka or in India? What is the response you have received?
The OYDP was shown in India at the Devi Foundation in August 2009 but not in Sri Lanka. The 209 drawings require a large space to be exhibited. Sri Lanka does not have a suitable venue to show the work in its entirety.
The book for this reason provides a space for viewing the work when gallery spaces do not exist. You could say the work is being shown each time someone opens the book.
At least that's the conceit I like to tell myself when thinking about people's response to the book project.
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