Commissioned by The Gujral Foundation and curated by Reha Sodhi, Astha Butail's ongoing solo exhibition at 24, Jor Bagh, In the Absence of Writing is a suite of works whose titles are fragments of hymns from the Rig Veda. It is a culmination of a year-long journey the artist undertook in researching living traditions that are passed on to generations through teaching and oral poetry. Butail travelled to Varanasi, several towns in South India, Yazd (Iran), Jerusalem (Israel), and London, where she observed and recorded different memory techniques, as well as interviewed scholars, students and practitioners of each tradition. She has used a range of media to offer glimpses into the architecture of collective memory using video, sound, sculpture and interactive installations – to respond to the notions of space and time, values and culture, history and identity.
On why Butail's work was chosen for the exhibition, Feroze Gujral, Founder & Director of The Gujral Foundation told us that, 'At the foundation, we aspire to offer a platform for discourse around art and culture that is out of the ordinary. Our programming straddles all mediums and we aim to support artists who have a very broad practice. We felt Astha Butail's journey was an unusual one and wanted to present this in an experiential way at 24, Jor Bagh.'
We spoke to Astha about her practice and the exhibition.
Forever, Embedded Memory, 2014
Photograph courtesy Astha Butail studio, Galleryske and The Gujral Foundation
How were you introduced to the world of art and design?
As a child I was introduced to design by looking at my older sister, who is a textile designer, graduated from NID, Aditi B Lakhanpal.
Then it was my first guru (teacher) who was from Pondicherry. My daily routine for one third of an year during my holidays for three months from age 8 to age 13 was being with him and observing and learning everyday from 8am to 11:30am. PREM bhai taught me things which nobody teaches, he was harsh and kind, he was the most spectacular person I feel I got to know. It was like learning karate!
As I look back and observe I realise that the real artist in my family was my mother( Monica Butail), her ways of doing things, her candidness and dedication, her love for textiles and hand made things. Later as I got married to Jiten Thukral, another artist family, where his own paternal uncle was an artist and so was his father.
I was very comfortable, being, and with all Jiten’s encouragement I re-started drawing which had taken a back seat in the midst of making ends meet, I had lost my dad when I was in the last year of school, and it wasn’t an easy time. With determination and faith one successful project led to another one.
It Dissolves Perfection, Mobile Immobile, 2017, Interactive Installation
Photograph courtesy Astha Butail studio and The Gujral Foundation
What inspires you as an artist?
Many things, simple things, it could be the passing of the clouds, wind blowing some leaves, the structure of a flower, an ants trail, sowing a seed, sewing, even something like a safety pin, the idea behind it, inspire me. Simple happy things. Music, also which can enliven a less favourable day. The oral poetry and chants of the Rig Veda are immensely rich. The uncodification of the oral poetry relevant in our present being excite me most of the time.
Can you tell us about the artists and ideologies that have influenced your work so far?
Yes, during, 2006 to 2009 I was reading and studying on my own account, a lot of western art. The father of minimalism, Sol LeWitt’s simple ideas would really make me come alive. There are many artists from that time frame.
And Secrets Are Secrets, Interactive Installation, 2019
Photograph courtesy Astha Butail studio and The Gujral Foundation
How was your recent exhibition, In the Absence of Writing, conceived and conceptualized?
1. Stir a miracle
2. In a flux of hope
3. Where opposites coincide
4. And secrets are secrets
5. It dissolves perfection
6. And there is enough room for everything
7. For everything is always flowing
8. Forever
9. In a limitless love
10. The fire will never die.
It started with this sentence which is one of my works, taken from excerpts from the Rig Veda and some experiences, the names of 10 books, from a project river fragments 2015. I proposed to make some new works along with old works but mostly include works from the art journey (BMW) period of 2017-2018. The body of work was keenly accepted by the curator, Reha Sodhi. The exhibition name was borrowed from the same title of my journey. In the absence of writing, was trying to get in touch with that part of culture which was predominantly oral. It was about something you learn by heart, but not just a family prayer or an address or a phone number or grand-mother’s recipe, it was about a organised oral learning and practice which was still living since 4000-5000 years old, in three traditions, in India, Iran and Israel, and trying to touch upon some of the meanings of that oral poetry. I thus entered into the Oral Torah, Rig Veda, and Avesta through the operatus of the elements, their meaning and relationships.
1. Stir a miracle
2. In a flux of hope
3. Where opposites coincide
4. And secrets are secrets
5. It dissolves perfection
6. And there is enough room for everything
7. For everything is always flowing
8. Forever
9. In a limitless love
10. The fire will never die.
It started with this sentence which is one of my works, taken from excerpts from the Rig Veda and some experiences, the names of 10 books, from a project river fragments 2015. I proposed to make some new works along with old works but mostly include works from the art journey (BMW) period of 2017-2018. The body of work was keenly accepted by the curator, Reha Sodhi. The exhibition name was borrowed from the same title of my journey. In the absence of writing, was trying to get in touch with that part of culture which was predominantly oral. It was about something you learn by heart, but not just a family prayer or an address or a phone number or grand-mother’s recipe, it was about a organised oral learning and practice which was still living since 4000-5000 years old, in three traditions, in India, Iran and Israel, and trying to touch upon some of the meanings of that oral poetry. I thus entered into the Oral Torah, Rig Veda, and Avesta through the operatus of the elements, their meaning and relationships.
There Is Enough Room For Everything, Installation & Video (India & Jerusalem) 2017-2018
Photograph courtesy Astha Butail studio and The Gujral Foundation
Can you take us through your creative process behind the curation of the exhibition?
Reha Sodhi (Curator): The process started with the artist proposing ten fragmented hymns from the Rig Veda that inspire her. Each work in the exhibition responds to the text which appears on light boxes on the facade; almost like titles of a book that unveils itself inside.
The Gujral Foundation, 24 Jor Bagh is an unconventional, experimental space that encourages artists to respond to the space, its architecture and surroundings. Astha intervenes into the space by using mud walls and copper pipes which appear and disappear in various spaces, subtly interweaving their relevance in the overall narrative of the show.
Of A Flux Of Hopes, Video installation (3+1) Cabinets, 2017-18, India, Iran, Jerusalem (Palestine)
Photograph courtesy Astha Butail studio and The Gujral Foundation
Lastly, what’s next for you
Would like to quote “from near to far from what there is to what there shall be”
This is the third principle of teaching from the writings on the teachings on Education of The Mother (Pondicherry). So its about living the present to the fullest.
Text Nidhi Verma
Where Opposites Coincide, 2019 Installation
Photograph courtesy Astha Butail studio and The Gujral Foundation