“Imagination is the four dimensional form of any plane”, I saw this line on the top of the descriptive column of the photography catalogue of Shabbir Hussain Santosh’s recent photography exhibition.
I truly believe in the statement. Whatever we create involves the application of ideas. But have we ever wondered, what is the source of these images that flicker in our mind and to give birth to a piece of art? We all have little control over our imagination and whatever we perceive gets registered in our sub consciousness. Our creative mind absorbs the things we see, feel, read, listen to but we are unaware of such a space until we churn our mind to think of a new muse to design something. When we look for an inspiration to draw, create, frame or design a piece of art then these scattered ideas are revived again. We start to connect things from past incidents to present scenario and so the sub consciousness interacts with the new horizons of exploration. This spectacular connection between surreal and real between past and present stimulates the thought process of a creative mind and helps him/her to define its art. This spontaneous integration of different themes, subjects, musings stimulates the innovative side of the artist and drives him with the passion to express his/her emotions through an archetype. On further refinement this becomes a definitive art form.
A few months back I was involved with a team of like- minded people who were involved with making of a street play
on the theme of ‘holy land’ where we wanted to depict the futility of bloodshed over the possession of land in the name of religion. The word ‘bloodshed’ created a pool of blood red images in my subconscious, symbolizing the raging passion of people who resort to violence to claim over land. My fellows were initiating ideas, reciting their poems, reading out monologues and were explaining their research work. When one of them recited a poem by eminent poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz, having a reference of a red rose, then my imagination connected it to the splash of blood which I was associating with the theme and it drove me with the creative impulse to write a poem on the issue. I interpreted the reference of the rose in following manner though my poem (in the last stanza);
‘’Yaa khuda Iss gulaab mei,
Laali abb kuchh kum sii hei,
Nafrat ke aagosh mei samaai,
Surkh laal toh voh mitti hei’’.
We cannot measure, classify or contain the popping ideas but one thing an artist is sure off is that the source of these abstract images is the same. It’s that same deep ocean of cognitive thoughts, immersing in which an artist comes up with a brilliant works. The intent remains unchanged only the form of depiction changes hence some call it painting, some poetry, some sculpture, some album, song and so on. Like If we make an improvisation for a play, maybe one of that characters could serve as a muse to a painter or that theme could help a photographer visualize an album story or the essence of the play could encourage a musician make a medley… So there is no classification for thinking and a single archetype can help us frame numerous stories on which rests the aesthetic interpretation of the creators of art.
This article is by Priyamvada
