Artist uses grains to tell the story of farmers' plight

Artist Revati Sharma Singhs oversized stainless seed wheat seed a Maharashtra map is carved at the center The artifact is at the heart of her Grains of Antiquity show in Mumbai PicSuresh KarkeraIf a countrys food growers are dying or contemplating suicide as a debt relief option where is the hope Londonbased Indian artistceramist Revati Sharma Singh who grew up in Mumbai sees the answer in seven food grains wheat rice oat corn barley millet and rye which are resilient sources of life amid drought and global warming on one hand food aid politics genetic modification tryouts and territorial wars on the otherGrains of Antiquity her show currently on display at Mumbais Art amp Soul gallery takes us on a picturesque tour of regions where food grains have been the cynosure of political controversies In the artists consciousness however grains are precious connectors which have the potential to unite people beyond narrow boundariesMehenga Chaddar constitutes thousands of grains hand rolled in pure silver and embroidered to create a map of glitzy Maharashtra where Mumbai coexists with the droughtstricken farmersAn oversized threefoot long stainless steel wheat seed with a Maharashtra map carved out at its center speaks of her take on the states crisisridden farmer Her Mehenga Chaddar three kilos of tiny silver handmade grains sown into the fabric again references Maharashtra where the glitzy financial hub named Mumbai prospers amid the notsofaroff agricultural tracts reeling under seasonal droughtThe artifact is Mehenga not just in terms of the expense of the silver but in the urban context of the pricey behaviour and apathy faced by farmers Singhs Mumbai schooling at Avabai Petit and subsequent commercial art education in Mumbai and Delhi preceding her shift to London shows in the political dimension she grants to her critique of the food grain crisis back homeThe script of a universal language in which the artist drives home the language of food or that of hungerSinghs heart doesnt just beat for her home state she also identifies with farmers worldwide In the Wall which is deliberately crumbled and laid on the ground she focuses on Mexicos indigenous people who were the first to cultivatedomesticate maize as a cereal grain 10000 years ago Her prototype corn 1000 protrusions placed on plates of clay embody todays Mexican farmers who are struggling more so as their border seethes with racial violence Similarly her collage of 196 flags wheat shaped silver seeds sown into the cloth to represent diverse wheatconsuming countries questions the deadly conflict in Syria Instead of being celebrated as the country that gave wheat to the world Syria is a nofly zone Singh lamentsSinghs show is highmaintenance and not just because of the silver seeds The 40 works 25 paintings along with 15 mixedmedia installations in ceramic silver metal and cloth call for a steep logistics cost The artist has not used real grains As food is subject to wastage in such a project she wanted handmade replica of seeds which she could sew embroider and integrate in her work aided by craftsmen from Crawford Market and Khar Danda who cut rolled and stitched the sheets of silver into the desired sizes The coming together of several hands was intentional somewhere going close to the cultivation pattern and displaying the seamless grain connection between humans of all castes class countries and raceThe Terracota Work five feet by two feet and was recently sold at the India Art Fair in Delhi embeds different grains which Singh calls language of the Earth which needs no translation The Terra Firma is another borderless food mapGrains entered Revati Sharma Singhs consciousness around 2011 for personal reasons at a juncture when she had temporarily shifted base to Mumbai Painting the minute grains on canvas was a form of meditation when her mother was diagnosed with cancer In one immersive moment she chanced upon two adjacent newspaper articles one was about 30000 tons of grain thrown because of poor storage facilities and the other a report on 25 suicides by povertystricken farmers The juxtaposition set her off on a pictorial exploration of the texture of grains for the next five years The earliest frames served a cathartic purpose and remained in her personal collectionArt amp Soul gallery director and owner Tarana Khubchandani who has curated Singhs works recalls exchanges with the artist about the grain shift Very rarely do thematic patterns grow on artists minds with the intensity and consistency that is seen in Revatis case She shapeshifted and moved from the archetypal redsbluesandgreens to the more basic colours of Earth The motif splashed off the conventional canvas and found an extension in an assemblage of media and a projection in London Delhi and MumbaiApart from Khubchandani another person has been privy to the grain journey The artists mother Benita Sharma 68 and now a retired teacher settled in Yol Himachal Pradesh She not just won her battle against cancer but was present for the Mumbai show opening providing the backstories and subtext behind each frame The show has roots in our collective time spent in Mumbai when we were looking for natures cure says the mother Befittingly Himachals paddy fields feature prominently in the Grains of Antiquity evocative of Singhs summer vacations spent with grandparents in the Kangra valleyEvery year she comes to Mumbai and then heads to recharge her connection At this point Singh is back to life in London at her warehouse workspace Grains particularly the unexplored oats barley millet and rye will soon be centerfield sprouting with homegrown stories and global chroniclesSumedha RaikarMhatre is a culture columnist in search of the subtext You can reach her at sumedharaikargmailcomCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS 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