Mapping Ulat Bansi

Collections
The Porous Self 2015-2023
Leafbirds 2012
Mapping 'Ulat Bansi' 2012
Installations
Shiva-Shakti 2002
Earth Colours 1998

My thanks and gratitude to
Dr. Linda Hess for permitting me to use her translations in this work.

Poems chosen from The Bijak of Kabir

Linda Hess and Shukdev Singh.
The Bijak of Kabir. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002 (orig. North Point Press and Motilal Banasidass, 1983).

Mapping the Unexplored Terrain

The Ulat Bansi of Kabir - A visual interpretation
The intricacies of everyday life are a cross between a chaotic market scene and the solitude of a forest. In this rich texture, space often becomes an illusion, a forgotten experience. Interpreting Kabir’s Ulat Bansi through visuals is an exploration of this almost invisible yet vital space in the mind and body. With its compassionate meanings delivered in sensual arrogance, the Ulat Bansi opened up an unexplored terrain of immense vastness that required its own unique form of mapping. The visual art became a discovery of the interlacing of space, its textures, emotions, absurdity and energy. Existence and non existence vibrate within every sensitive yet ridiculous word/ line in the poetry. Playing with this exuberance of words led to creating a dance of visual elements. Using delicate patterns, vibrant folk forms, and a division of the 2-dimensional space into infinite planes, the poetry became a canvas for self-exploration, meditation and simply hours of fun.

A child-like naïve and energetic movement guiding the strokes, seeking and exploring unending opening and closing (entry and exit) of new spaces from within and beyond is the essence of this experimental mapping.

Just because someone drew a buffalo on an eagle which was standing on an ant, could the illogical imagination become reality? But in which plane are we looking for reality or logic? Is the three-dimensional space a reality for the lizard? Is there an inherent symbolism or a playful absurdity? Being caught in this unnerving yet strangely comforting logic of the mystic poet, an evolving transformative artistic experience has begun.