Since time immemorial, many souls, disenchanted by earthly possessions, have given up their wealth and comfort and embarked on a spiritual journey to find answers to life’s questions. Be it Gautam Buddha, Mahavira, or the many sadhus who left behind the opulence of this world and embraced solitude, these ascetics set out to seek the “Truth”. Is this spiritual journey, then, any better than a life of luxury? How diverse are the experiences of people on this spiritual path? And is a spiritual journey always undertaken alone?
Shakti Maira’s exhibition, The Sangha: A Creative Journey (1989-2011) introspects on these aspects of seeking spirituality. The exhibition, underway at the India International Centre till March 2, is centred on the Sangha, a group of 12 sculptural figures, each about six feet tall that form a community of spirit. This group pivots around a pair of two conjoined figures that stand locked in intense communion — the taller, male figure whispering into the ear of the feminine one. Their physical togetherness perhaps symbolises a meeting of minds and a singleness of purpose. The other 10 figures are gathered around this central pair, and seem oriented towards that delicate moment, as they listen and respond to what has been said in a diverse range of movements and expressions — of concentration, delight, contemplation, devotion, rapture, laughter — all the emotions and experiences that occur in a spiritual journey.
“The Sangha marked a shift from solitary spiritual seeking to a sense of a community of spiritual seekers. It was a movement to express the myriad experiences that occur for different people, at a given moment in time, on the spiritual path. That moment in the Sangha is a word spoken by one figure into the ear of another, and its reverberations in the group,” explains Shakti, the artist, sculptor and printmaker.
The essential form of the Sangha is a figure rising from the earth, rooted and still, seemingly echoing the organic growth of tree trunks. The limbs are invisible, though suggestive, and there is evidence of restrained movement. The Sangha sculptures are an outcome and expression of a concept that germinated 20 years ago. This is now being explored by Shakti in painting, printmaking and sculpture. The idea behind the Sangha was to give an artistic form to seeking spirituality. “The Sangha was one form that this larger idea took. Before the Sangha, there were The Seekers, and prior to that, The Silent Witnesses in sculpture, and several other series of paintings. The journey to the Sangha started with a series called The Fallen Gods in 1989, which was entirely in paintings,” Shakti says.
In the many spiritual paths that individuals seek, each person forges his/her own way to traverse the deep terrain of spirituality. In Shakti’s journey, Buddhism has been a strong inspiration and this is manifest in the visual forms that appear in his works — monks, caves, the stupa, the alms bowl, the path. Does he then follow Buddhism as a religion?
“For me, Buddhism has not been a religion, but a path to wisdom. Its teachings and meditation methods have enriched my personal growth. When I use these symbols, I am not expressing them in their religious forms, but as stepping-stones to communicate the core ideas they stand for. For example, the robe has always been a metaphor for the spiritual path itself. The stupa suggests the potentiality of the human mind for wisdom and enlightenment. In the Daan series, which is being showcased for the first time as part of the Sangha exhibition, the mendicant’s bowl is used as a metaphor for generosity and the beneficial exchange involved in giving and receiving,” he explains.
To show the Sangha in its full artistic context, a selection of works has been collated from some of the series Shakti has made since 1989, the year that can be traced as the beginning of the form which would eventually become the Sangha. To contextualise the creative journey, the audience is taken back 20 years in time, when Shakti was working on the Fallen Gods and Intimations of Transcendence series. In this exhibition, going in a clockwise circumambulation, selected works from the Intimations of Transcendence series (1991-97) are displayed, which include a few works on paper, as well as some sculptures. This is followed by a few works from two overlapping series: Within (1993-94) and Absorption/Within (1996-97). Both represent the artist’s continuing play and experiments in making two-dimensional paintings more sculptural.
Shakti’s work has often been categorised as spiritual. When asked about this, he clarifies, “I see spirituality as the search for meaning and goodness, and even beauty. I am not drawn to religious beliefs or prayer, and my art has never been about religious subjects. I make art about the real world as I experience it.”
Is the Sangha the end of the creative journey? “I don’t think so. I have already started thinking of new sculptures, where I am exploring what may be called the completion stage of the spiritual journey,” Shakti says.