Brush with divinity

Charu Singh talks to artist Jaishree Burman on her collection Sacred Feminine, to be exhibited in Mumbai from November 18

Legend and reality intermingle in Jaishree Burman’s watercolours

Voluptuous semi-naked ethereal women stare serenely into space, with their third eye blazing like a sharp jewel. These demigoddesses, clad in sarees with shades of dull red, browns or a cool moonlit blue, are shown with long lustrous, thick dark hair flowing around them. The landscape includes gently rolling hills, swans in pools and lotuses by the dozens cascading around these divine damsels. Legend and reality clearly inter-mingle in Jaishree Burman’s watercolours for her collection ‘Sacred Feminine’, which will be exhibited in Mumbai from November 18 to December 9.

Jaishree particularly favours the legendary figure of Matsyakanya, whose form seems to sway mysteriously out of her canvases. The presence of Goddess Sarswati is prominent in a huge painting done in cool shades of midnight blue, cobalt blue and turquoise with ethereal mauve lotuses floating in the background. Divinity sparkles from a woman sitting confidently with fixed staring eyes. The modern and the sacred are juxtaposed beautifully as the woman holds her bag and book, with a mobile on her table.

Jaishree admits rather frankly, "These paintings are the work of two-three years of labour and I never thought I was painting the divine feminine but that is what has emerged. These paintings really developed spontaneously out of my interactions with ordinary people. They are my observation of people and life. When there is divinity in people, especially women, I can feel it. It’s almost like I can sense their inner essence and that is what I paint."

A rather unique painting of the Buddha is present in this collection. He appears steeped in silence and peers from within a cosmic circle. Midnight blue waters surround him with swans floating in a timeless world. A white moon suspends dreamily between hazy hills and sky. This divine circle is surrounded by rust lotuses and pale swans. The entire effect is unusual. "The Buddha’s painting is inspired by my trip to Cambodia and China. I travelled through the old Silk Route and fell in love with the Buddhist cave paintings found there. I painted a few canvases that were influenced by that experience," says Jaishree.

Another goddess that peers out of her canvases is Durga. In one of Jaishree’s creations she sits in a field with hues of green, red and yellow. Leaves and flowers seem to be growing out of her many arms and she peers dynamically out of her dark lustrous eyes. All existence seems to swirl around her, especially beautiful are her alta-stained feet. A very animated Jaishree says, "For me Durga Puja was a part of my life, we call it puja but it is not just a puja, it is an entire lifestyle. For me Goddess Parvati is really a nayika, the perfect heroine. She had so much love and passion about her that she, a princess, left her house to marry the then ascetic, Lord Shiva. For me the Goddess is still alive and breathing in some women – I get glimpses of Goddess Durga here and there."

Another haunting canvas is that of the sacred circle or the ‘womb,’ which is depicted in hues of charcoal and sand. Its silent perfection drips off the canvas, sometimes it appears like the sacred circle of love and at other times as the womb. "This is about that little part of my life that I lost. I was expecting a child, carried the baby for nine months but he was stillborn. The pain was immense but this pain became my teacher and took my art forward. In a way, it left me with an unfulfilled desire and this desire is always there but I learnt a lot through this and this desire has come back through my work," says Jaishree.