A drawing hangs in the middle

Junuka Deshpande

This exposition is based on a project that explored observation of a crossroad through drawings. The drawings are made from the same place on a sidewalk observing the same square over 30 days. During this process, I tried to explore how a continuous observation of a space and the outcome of the process evokes a certain sense of connectedness and reflexive dialogue with the place and its elements- visible and invisible. This artistic research contemplates on the idea of too early too late through the process of drawing where the drawing emerges in the moment, while can be anticipated early and interpreted in hindsight. My exposition considers the act of drawing as an embodied form of recording as opposed to drawing as an image-making (representational) exercise. This process of drawing becomes an engagement with the existing spatial elements, arrangements, their interconnections and importantly, with the self, that is observing. Along with the external engagement and a dialogue with the space, the moment of drawing is both- the outcome of observation and a connection in the moment of making it. This tension between an immediacy in the moment of drawing and the reflectivity in the process of meaning-making of the drawings creates a parallel relationship between an immediate present and the immediate past. The empty space on the surface before drawing, therefore becomes a potential space to record moments from the space around and to remember the moments that are passing by. The work, in the form of drawings of various sizes aspires to present the engagement with the space. The work also gives me an opportunity to find critical moments in the records of time, memory and space. The drawing as an outcome hence, hangs in the middle between the moment of record and moment of being.

From representation to understanding and from content to form

I was sitting on a sidewalk, facing the entrance of a house. The entrance had a lot of elements to observe. Doors, windows, com- pounds, wires, a makeshift cage for a water motor, a potted plant, hanging towels, a broken railing, scratched surfaces, walls, a half-opened window...a curious assemblage of objects I was drawn towards. I started drawing what I was observing. I was initially drawing the interesting elements my preoccupied mind that told unsaid potential stories it perceived. Over some time I realised, I had begun to observe forms, lines, shapes through my drawing. This process was two-fold - I had begun to sense space and its elements and I had, through my body and its action, replicated them as I understood them. I was only observing and drawing, without thinking about ‘what’ I was drawing. The feeling I received was of an experience into the space – listening, observing, drawing without a sense of judgement about the space or myself. I held on to that fleeting experience in order to articulate it.The journey into the space of observation was taking place through my body. What took place on the paper was a by-product of the observation.

By the end of this session I could reflect better about the content. What started as a separate journey of nomenclature and analysis, slowly moved towards the abstraction. When I was completely into observation, I stopped thinking about what and how I was drawing. After this experience of oneness between observed, observer and observation faded, I tested myself by asking following questions and I will try to respond to them hereafter:

How did this experience help me understand space or anything else?

How did it help me understand the content of observation and time?

How did this give me information? What is the nature of information I received, if at all I received it?

How is this information different from a factual, verbal information?

What did this experience do to me in terms of understanding?

Arriving at an enquiry as opposed to starting with one

When one starts with one observation, it often leads to the next. This process of build up is spontaneous but over an extended period of time, it arrives at a method. I try to articulate this method based on my creative practice undertaken during this project. In one line, the method would be to look, to draw, to go by the flow, use the body and stream of consciousness. Even though it seems linear, the arrival of the state of stream of conscious- ness takes time. The sheer quantity leads one towards an enquiry, similar to my process of arrival at a form from content.

The drawings provide a glimpse into a process of such an arrival.

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Junuka Deshpande - A drawing hangs in the middle - 2023