Architect and illustrator Surabhi Banerjee’s 1,000-piece jigsaws challenge puzzlers to discover labyrinthine artwork
The Bombay Local puzzle
It befuddles this writer that puzzles — commonly used as a metaphor for cruel challenges of life — can have solvers hooked for hours. What’s so addictive about working out a crossword or a jigsaw? The craving for wildly intricate puzzles grew during the pandemic. While puzzlers studied offbeat themes and twists to keep them coming, bloggers wrote about probable ways of piecing them together. Around this time, Mumbai-bred artist Surabhi Banerjee was contemplating her subsequent steps as an illustrator. “I wanted to do something that went beyond our screens and deadlines. After browsing pieces that culminate into images of kittens in baskets and water lilies in ponds, I came across this puzzle with a picture of a couple. It helped me manage my anxiety and also taught me that in case of a garish jigsaw, the artwork gets in the way of the game’s meditative qualities,” she shares. And that inspired the adaptation of her illustrations into picture games.
The Attakatha puzzle
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Banerjee’s art is informed by the Ligne Claire style, which was originally pioneered by Hergé, creator of the Tintin series. She strips down a picture to ascending layers on a plane and pours out a multiplicity of voices. Her 1,000-piece puzzles called Bombay Local, Attakatha, Bajaar and Craftswoman delve into the hubbub of Indian cities. Does her characteristic style inflate the intrigue? Banerjee feels it might, as jigsaw puzzle solvers will find themselves relying on the black outlines to find the pieces.
Banerjee offers four kinds of puzzles
The pursuit has opened up unvisited avenues for the architect. “I have worked on my illustrations with my own coterie — my brother, partner and mother. At times, they have cursed me while pulling out their hair over the puzzles. It was a whole different thrill.”
Surabhi Banerjee
Satisfied that her efforts at functional art have been appreciated by her patrons, Banerjee reveals a curious anecdote. “I had started a social media poll asking people which illustrations they would like me to convert into puzzles, and the result was fascinating. I got people writing back in elaborate detail, debating as to which ones would be more difficult for them.”
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