The September Challenge reveal Art Elements. is inspired by Faeries. When I read the post I knew that I would be participating in it. I thought of doing something on the lines of my Pixie dust collection with a Faerie image. But the inspiration post had many thought provoking images that pointed to other religious stories and folklore.
Of Faeries, Apsaras and Shilabalikas
However, Hinduism does not really have the concept of faeries, fairies or angels. Apart from Gods (Goddesses) and DemiGods there are celestial beings like Apsaras and gandharvas whose power is seduction. These women and men remain eternally young and beautiful. They can fly, appear and disappear at will and are well versed in 64 different arts and crafts. Then there are Yakshas and Yakshis, nature spirits who are usually benevolent and worshipped as fertility symbols. They can be mischievous tricksters (like Fae) or sexually aggressive wealth protectors. There are rare darker entities that mate, kill and drink blood as well.
The final category is that of stylised human forms who are dancers and courtesans posing as yakshis and nymphs. These forms such as Shilabalikas and Madanakai can be typically seen as temple sculpture, used both for decoration and the representation (documentation) of the culture of the period in which the temple was built. They are the forms that I chose for this challenge.
Form and Stylisation
You might wonder why I chose stylised forms over faeries for my reveal; here is why. In the days I taught costume appreciation I would use images of statues to explain the evolution of dress. But in the process I would also tell my students to question if the theory of dress prevalent in the society at a point in time could be understood by looking at these images. When they replied in affirmative, I would ask them to compare their own selves or photographs with the stylised fashion illustrations that they draw. I would ask them to imagine a future 100 years from now. One where people would look at these surviving illustrations and conclude that this is how their ancestors must have looked in 2018. That would be strange and funny, wouldn’t it?
In my opinion, an image looks beautiful because it is portrayed that way. For instance you could make a cruel witch or a trickster look soft and beautiful in a painting or a sculpture. You could make an ordinary woman look like a celestial nymph as well. It is simply a matter of stylisation. So purely, in terms of form, a nymph or a faerie is no different from an ordinary person. What we believe we know about them, their backstories makes them different from each other.
Shilabalika
So coming back to stylised forms, Shilabalikas are stylised female forms portrayed next to or under a tree. Also known as Salabhanjikas (when standing next to a sala tree), they are extraordinarily beautiful. They are also known by other names like Madanakai or madanika meaning beautiful woman. They are all fertility symbols (based on old Buddhist legends) who are said to make a tree bloom (fertile) by touching it. Their pose, dress and adornment are suggestive of their powers of seduction. But they are also considered extremely chaste. They are instrumental in adding love, beauty, and life in this world. In my opinion there are not really different from Apsaras other than the fact that these women are mortal.
As temple sculptures they appear as dancers and musicians either performing or getting ready for a performance. The concept of “Alamkara – adornment of self” is highlighted here. All the figures that I have used for my Shilabalika necklaces are bracket sculptures found at the 12th century AD Chennakesavaperumal temple in Belur. Their forms is said to have been inspired by that of Shantala Devi the Queen of Raja Vishnuvardana who commissioned this temple.
Shilabalika necklaces
To create my two Shilabalika necklaces, I made resin pendants of the sculptural forms. I looped faux pearls and beads on coloured artisan wire. I used earthy colours like ochre, brown, sienna, copper, bronze, offwhite, amber with accents of dull green and pink to create two similar yet eclectic pieces.
The first necklace that I created in the series of Shilabalika necklaces is the Darpana sundari necklace that you see below. Having used bright shocking colours for it, I wanted the other necklaces to have a soft worn-in feeling of being centuries old. Hence I used pastels and earthtones.
Darpana Sundari Necklace
The words “Darpana Sundari” mean a beautiful lady with a mirror. She is in the process of adorning herself to get ready for a performance. When I first looked at the image of the sculpture, I started to imagine how she would have actually looked. A beautiful curvy woman with flawless skin and luscious hair decorated with flowers. Her necklace and earrings studded with emeralds and sapphires. Her Mekala and patka (hip ornaments) shimmering with opalescent pearls contrasting her antariya (lower garment) in rich blues and golds. As she got dressed under the bright green sala tree she would have looked celestial.
This imagination of the attire and look of Darpana Sundari led to this necklace. I used rich blues and green to contrast the browns and grays of the sculpture. I added a little verdigris patina around the pendant’s rim as well. All three necklaces are a part of my Parampare series and available at Coolture Designs.
Art Elements Challenge – Faerie Bookmark
Though I was immensely satisfied with my Shilabalika necklaces, I felt that I had digressed from the theme of the challenge. So I made a bookmark/tag. I printed a piece of scrap paper using bubble wrap which I further layered with several textures. I then collaged images of a rose faerie and the word “Believe” and glued a patterned cardstock at the back. To add relief I added a torn newspaper bit.
To experiment with more textures I added a lace frill to the bottom of the tag and ribbon tassel to the other making it a sort of a bookmark. I sealed the tag with coats of matt Mod podge. I also used one final coat of MP glitter to match the shimmer of the lace frill.
Greek Garden Faerie
I was super-duper busy this month but I managed to do one more thing to show you. I did a quick draping/styling and basic makeup demo in class this past week for my fashion styling class. My model turned out looking like a little Greek garden fairy without wings ofcourse. She is wearing a draped green saree, my beetle wings earrings, beanstalk ring and my water drop earrings (in her hair). I wish I had better images to show as these were taken with my cellphone while the model was busy posing to another student who was photographing her. It’s another story that those photographs turned out worse.
These are my experiments with the Shilabalika necklaces and stylised female forms. I hope they brought about a different view of form and stylisation of form. If you notice, my bookmark faerie doesn’t have wings as well. At the outset she does not look like she has powers. She is just a beautiful woman who believes in herself and her power to make a difference through love and beauty like the shilabalikas.
This is the first AJE reveal where I have dabbled in different forms of representations – jewellery, tag and styling. Yay, Happy Dance! Please do tell me what you think of them in the comments. How do you see form, its abstraction and stylisation?Also, this is a blog hop. Please visit the other participants as well to see how other designers have interpreted this theme.
Participants
I hope you find it interesting
Cheers
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