ஃ
ஃ
Devotion in Form
In 2017, Sab was commissioned by the Jaffna Central College to create an original painting as prelude to a mural work to be installed in the newly under-construction Carnatic Music Hall in honour of her great-grandfather (maternal) Mr. W.M. Cumarasamy.
After 2 years of work, this painting, titled PRAYERS AND WISHES COME IN MANY FORMS, would not reach the shores of Jaffna, and would become lost in transit - the project wrapped just one day before riots broke out in Sri Lanka's capital, in 2019. The hall was not constructed.
Below you will find the written prose by Sab, that was to accompany the piece before the mural work would commence, as well as progress shots, scenes from the commission interview in Jaffna, and the finished piece in studio before send off.
From Top: Sab in front of Historic Jaffna Central College, where the hall was to be constructed, 2017
Artwork review process in person, Jaffna, 2017
Below:
Process work and studio shots in Sab’s Toronto studio, 2018 / 2019
The finished work hanging in Sab’s Toronto Studio, 2019
Devotion in Form - The Infinite Resounding
The first iteration of creation was a sound.
For every living thing, there is a frequency attached.
between clouds, mist, monsoon
soil, soot and sunlight,
between shadows and light
strength and resilience,
the past and the future,
between the heart and desire,
prayer and blessings,
there is a telepathy
a call and response.
this bridge, this cord that weaves, this spiritual pull
is everywhere, wrapping around the invisible,
and manifesting itself into form.
such is carnatic music as well.
the pull of melody, from the deep slow dragging of the shruti petti and tambura's foundational notes, like the earth rumbling to pull a seed in darkness,
the blossoming and bursting circular resonance of the mrdangam, like the beating pulse of water and heat moving that seed up,
all the way to exalted pitch of the veena and nathasvaram, the seed that is now the vine twisting in sunlight,
the fluttering heights of the flute and sinuous violins, threading patterns across space, like wind and rain.
Finally, the vocalists which add the poetry of emotion, like time seasoning forms to develop new wholes. A spiritual vibration of a transformative experience, this is felt in carnatic music.
on my first trip to jaffna, in the afternoon I listened to my young cousin practice his mrdangam, the teacher calling to him vocally and his response, the beat of his drum.
The next morning I awoke to a bird outside singing in the exact same pattern from that afternoon of practice. The bird called out, and was responded to by another. The frequency of nature was shared with the beat of a drum, in pattern and purpose.
I understood then that carnatic music is inextricably linked to the land from which it blossomed, and I decided I would reflect the essence of it, with its undeniable source - the flow of nature. The instrument is resonating with a vibration that is already within the land. It is about land and place and the resonance of nature that is heard and responded to thru that music.
The Veena is no different from the tree which it was cut, the buzzing of a violin is the same as the bee carrying ancient maps for the soul of honey, the mrdangam's emptiness creates the stage for fufillment, as does the ocean depth, for pressure and heat to spring life. Carnatic Instruments, vocalists, compositions,
these vessels of devotion, embody the same call and response that is within nature - divine reverberation in form, harmonized with, repeated and refracted, weaving infinite tapestries of devotion, compositions that imbue the metaphysical to redefine the physical.
This is the thinking behind this piece, and it is my honour and oceanic gratitude to also be a vessel for this resonance, may it reverberate pure devotion through all who witness and experience it in jaffna, for eons.
infinitely,
Sab Meynert, artist,
Great-Granddaughter of Mr. W. M. Cumarasamy.