I bought myself a tempo this December for the NH7 Weekender Festival as an installation!
It's bright and red and beautiful! How the installation worked is- if you liked a musician you could take out a postcard from the tempo, write it to them, and post it into one of our astonished postboxes. We'd then give the musician the postcard!
It's been so long, too long since I wrote here, while my facebook page is very much alive.
it's my birthday today (I turn 24) and I thought I should do some catching up in this little haven of mine
It's been an amazing heart opening- few months. I spent twenty days mostly alone in Brazil where I found so much love, so much music and a family, I also lost all my money in my bank account to theft, but learnt a beautiful and valuable Lesson in Kindness.
I'm drawing again after many months of digital magic. Good old paper pen and gold dust.
"When I’m drawing I feel a little closer to the way birds navigate when flying, or to hares finding shelter when pursued, or to fish knowing where to spawn, or trees finding a way to the light, or bees constructing their cells.
I’m aware of a distant, silent company. Almost as distant as the stars. Company nevertheless. Not because we are in the same universe, but because we are involved – each according to his own mode – in a comparable manner of searching.
Drawing is a form of probing. And the first generic impulse to draw derives from the human need to search, to plot points, to place things and to place oneself. “
- John Berger
I travelled to Kerala with Evan Hastings and the Shadow Liberation
where I found total peace in Ritual, where we learnt how to make traditional shadow puppets from a Pullavar (priest) who became our Guru over the last few days.His family has done this for a thousand years or more. So much beauty in Ritual. Fire, sound, conchshell, lights and prayer. Snake tongue, Animal sacrifices, Gods of the forest.
Here's the puppet I made, handcarved out of goatskin. We carve the eyes out last with a prayer and fire and sacred smoke because it's with the eyes that life is infused into these puppets.
I made some stages, danced on some too.
We are made of stories not atoms.
You can spend your life hoping that
when only you get rid of the fear,
when you are a little bit more enlightened,
when you have built up your self esteem,
then...
then you will show up and give it all.
Or... you can get out of your own way,
make yourself available,
and bow down to the One who plays you.
Now
~Chameli Ardagh
I last left this blog saying "Before you become crystalline, find that source that made you glow"
A friend Smriti was talking to us the other day about one's life as being a spiral, you start at a source and move outwards from that source, make a full cycle around and find yourself back at a parallel point on the same line. It's the same place, the same lesson to be learnt but something has changed. And onwards and onwards, we find ourselves back at the same place in a cycle but having learnt more and expanded outwards.
All of last year was an internal cycle, looking inwards, drawing all the time, working on Khoya and INK, growing and thinking and changing and meditating. A work Sanyaas of sorts. I didn't freelance, money and everything else became irrelevant. I was creating Inner worlds and I was happy. and chapters were coming to an end I graduated from Srishti after 5 years at the top of my class as Valedictorian, and released Khoya into the world.
Then came the next loop, the outwards spiral- Sharing, Pouring out, rising out of the sea and into the sky like a star. And it's been rewarding too. There's so much love here, first the TED talk went out like a wave across the universe, and from there on it's been an endless flow of articles and outward living. An acquaintance once told me that one must be like Akshayapatra in the Mahabharat- the Vessel that is only full when shared, the second one stops sharing one becomes empty. For the last few months I've been sharing consistently, living that outward life, being loved and loving. But lately I'm starting to feel like this cycle is slowly coming to an end as well. My vessel is full and I am sharing, but perhaps one shouldn't be so averse to being "empty" for a while either. I feel like going back to this blog that's been my silent haven since I was 16 before followers and stats, It's been ignored since I've started posting stuff on facebook with more instant gratification. I need to train myself to become a Karma Yogi of the digital world, share without care or expectation, and while blogs make it easy to talk to myself and be honest, Facebook doesn't. I think it's a balance a lot of us in the online blog and art world are trying to figure out too : How not to crystallize.
All the talks on Khoya are exciting, but I feel I need to move on before I start to feel like a broken record, even if it's only to Khoya 2. There are new valleys to explore, new interactions to create and other universes within the narrative to paint and see and be before I become into a crystal of Childhood and Magic. These are phases and circles in the spiral. I was much older when I was younger, darker, scratchier, more instinctive but also sadder, affirming negative emotions in my life until it came to a total crescendo of near madness and fear.
(some canvases from my older work when I was 15)
I was reborn as a child, rediscovered magic and love. But now I feel like I've grown up again and this time round perhaps it's not so bad. Khoya 2 is going to be an exploration of this growth, and newer realizations. A new wave in the spiral. Relatively older and ready to learn again without expectation.
A photograph from this month's Time Out magazine.
I need to go back to the Source, to re-boot and refresh myself. Find what it is that made me glow first before I become crystalline.
Hello bonifisheii.blogspot.com. I've missed you.
PS- Ironically, this post was saved as a draft for months with all the pictures and videos in but no words: A Microdocumentary about my life and connections which was so beautifully shot by Ben Henretig of Microdocs, the launching of myself as a brand of illustrated goodies and more. But instead, it's turned into an introspection on innerworlds and outerworlds. :) Perhaps this was meant to happen after all.
Thank you for all the love :)
A few months ago I was chosen as one of five Indian Street artists to be part of residency of sorts called Urban Avante-garde Bangalore with 5 german Street artists. Organized by the Max Mueller and Jaaga, it was amazing. We took over walls all across Malleshwaram and transformed them.
This word "transformed" really does work especially in the context of the streets, an otherwise empty space starts to tell a story, bring people together and create a backdrop for endless photographs and conversations.
This one is at the Malleshwaram train station and is a tribute of sorts to the Indian Railway.
If you're ever there catching a train- Go say hi to my female coolie, 15 feet tall and beautiful armed with purple suitcase and all. This was done in just 2 days and I really want to do more BIG walls in public spaces now.
thanks to my special assistants Gayatri Ganju who took me in her yellow Reva with ladders in boot, Aruna C who made those lovely pink swirls on top of the train, Riya Vegas of the Paati eating icecream, Ria Rajan for trainstation company and tall Gabor who helped me reach the suitcase!
If you're ever in Malleshwaram, at 18th cross bus-stand, go say hi to the donkey I painted there! Ever noticed how there are so many donkeys in Malleshwaram? It's quite bizzare to drive by some road at night and see a donkey elegantly poised in the middle of the road under a frangipani tree.
Legend has it that all these donkeys belonged to the dhobi ghat, the dhobhi's used to the donkeys to drop off people's clothing after they were washed. Ofcourse, now cycles and bikes and more convenient. And so though the dhobi ghat has slowly faded, the donkeys remain as wanderers through malleshwaram street, chewing flowers and trudging along. :) If you know any more legends about these wandering donkeys- Let me know. I think these beautiful creatures should be given the social status of Unicorns. hee love S
Possibly the greatest truth revealed to me this year, is this. Ask and you shall receive. Every single opportunity that has crossed my life has been driven by some desire to Create something.
A few weeks ago, when I was in Bali: I watched a shadow puppet performance and thought it was completely beautiful. I decided that I wanted to work with shadow puppeteers this year, somehow.
And magically, when I got back to Bangalore, someone I'd known for quite a bit said he's working with puppeteers in Kerala! Going there in September. *excited*
Other lessons too have been learnt. As my life gets more filled with abundance: talks, interviews, press, conferences. I find myself also understanding and appreciating the
Abundance in simplicity more than ever.
here's a picture from a my little meditation cove in my room:
Tonight's gathering of gods: incense, sandal, kumkum, fire, frida, flowers,
small temple bell and only rain outside.
"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:" Matthew 7:7
A few months ago for woman's day I was asked to guest blog an article for Tanishq titled "I am NOT You",
It was a portrait of a few successful women who had done things differently, and yet I felt like the title didn't fit.
it was pretty exciting actually, because I realized how much I missed writing. I'm definitely going to start writing more regularly after this.
Here's what I wrote :
"I am not you"
This much is true. This article, I’m told is about me. And all the success and love I have found by being me. But what’s ironic is that perhaps the realization that brought all of it to me was ‘I am You’.
I am You. I see myself in everything that shimmers, every whispered love song, every flower that gently finds its way to the ground. I travel in gardens and bedrooms,around corners, through doorways, up stairs, in the sky, with friends, lovers, children and heroes; perceived, remembered, imagined.
For all my growing up years, my angsty teens, I tried to separate myself from you. I said I was a rebel, robed in black, scribbling poetry into my skin while watching raindrops from a distance.
I said I was not you. Cut you off. Broke you down until ‘I’ broke down and then something changed.
The poet Kabir said ‘The Redness of my Beloved is such,I went out in search of Red, and became Red myself‘and this is how it happened.
I was brought up primarily by my mother, also an artist. And so our relationship was set in pigment and pixel. Perhaps the greatest realization for both of us has been that Art and Illustration and the creation of beautiful things wasn’t a process that cuts people off, but brings people in. ‘I am you’.
I am not the ‘You’ that chose a road well traversed, I am not the ‘You’ that didn’t stand up for beliefs, I am not the ‘You’ that chose corporate jobs and black suits. I am the ‘You’ that fell in love, the ‘You’ that remembers and lives the innocence of childhood, the ‘You’ that dreams and believes that these dreams can be transformed into a reality. The child, the dreamer, the mother, the goddess, the lover and in all these manifestations we are one. Cyclic and Moon-drawn.
I started travelling when I was 16, perhaps more fearless then than I am now, and on those countless train journeys sitting by the door of the train I learnt (and keep learning) that perhaps the most important thing is to trust. Trust that you are protected, trust in your own strength, trust that this strength will guide you, that your feet (adorned with anklets and colour) are strong and will not slip, and trust enough to “Let the Beauty of What you Love be what you Do”.
Trust those doodles, those songs hummed in the shower, that poetry scribbled onto your skin, all the drama, because it’s in those that one’s love sometimes lies, in those doodles an artists, that humming a singer, a poet and an actor.
The Sufi's say that between this Realm of Matter and the Realm of Spirit is the Imagination. And through one's imagination we transform the mundane to the divine :)
When I was a little girl, me and my friends would spend hours creating beautiful imaginary kingdoms that somehow we could both see. Towers and creatures and ships that we both inhabited. Both shared without doubt.
I sometimes feel like I chose to illustrate so I didn't have to stop creating and sharing worlds. :) Sometimes when I'm drawing, I feel almost like I'm whipped away into towers where lovers are united, or forests where crows speak and spat out a few hours later by these watercolours wonderlands.
This image was done for Rangashankara's Summer express.
Speaking of Children: Here are some Images from a Workshop I've been doing with Kids all through the summer. It's been super fun working with kids again! The last time I did full on workshops was when I was 16.
These are examples of the journals some of the kids made. More pictures of that coming soon. Love Shilo
This month I designed for the TED Auditions this month in Bangalore. Giant Panels of Red Sarees with thick gold embroidered patterns and giant illustrated panels on silk draped around. The Idea was to bring alive the essence of the Indian Archetypes in the TED quest- they were out auditioning looking for the sage, the prodigy, the artist, the storyteller, the inventor, the performer. And these panels represented the Indian versions of those archetypes.
What was particularly exciting was that chris anderson and kelly stoetzel who run TED were both there! and they both agreed it was one of the most beautiful sets their tour had seen. :) Quite an honour! Chris Anderson when introducing me on stage said "Such a talent! and reccomended all to check out the TED talk. (which if you haven't you totally should : http://www.ted.com/talks/shilo_shiv_suleman_using_tech_to_enable_dreaming.html)
It all came together very hurriedly over a week in Bangalore. Rushing through rainy streets in markets finding sarees, getting giant panels printed! The giant illustrations you see have been printed on 14 feet long silk panels! they were huge! enough to make a tent with.
The Original Design
It's always a surprise designing a stage. (This is only my second so far) and it's such a trip seeing small drawings on your screen turn into GIANT sets overnight. Big thanks to Cigma Events, that does all the production and setting up of these big stages! To INKtalks for bringing the whole event together and organizing everything and more and more. :) Though I didn't get to speak on this stage, my partner did! :)
It's been a long time since I posted last and many months have passed.
truth be told, it's been a bit of a war between posting work on my facebook page and on my blog.
and the facebook page becomes easier to quickly put up stuff as it's happening and get instant reactions as well, but this space has a silence that I love and started to miss too.
So now I'm back, and promise to be back more often as well. Here's a bit of the backlog.
The illustration above is from a book I'm working on (very slowly) on Yoga positions and chakra flows. (and a may it inspire you to stretch)
'The moon lives in the lining of your skin'- PN A new long notebook started by the moon-drawn sea with crows and imaginary whales for company
River Running to the sea. This one is an ollllld one from Pampasutra(look into the belly of this blog and you'll see more images from that book), the River of Hampi.
I hear now that the Bazaar of Hampi bustling and alive with gypsies selling silver and mirrors has now been torn down to be replaced with malls and theme parks. I only hope this stops.
My last week has been beautifully flooded thanks to the INK talk going on ted.com.
So much love :) Thank you all for all the comments, the feedback, the joy and understanding.
If you haven't already seen it: Do watch it on : http://www.ted.com/talks/shilo_shiv_suleman_using_tech_to_enable_dreaming.html
It's been overwhelming, with over 240,274 views in just over a week! :)
do download Khoya here as well.
"The Earth laughs in flowers" is an old favourite by Ee cummings. It's been whispered and scribbled in notebooks for the longest time and this December, while taking a digital detox of sorts in Goa, I found myself back to nothing but a paper and the same watercolours that have be friended me for over 5 years. Infact I think I want to spend a large part of this year just painting again. So if you know anyone who you think would be interested in an exhibition, let me know :)
The original watercolour piece or a print is available if you email me
This wallpaper is a special response to all the people who have sent in emails and comments after TED. :) Thank you fellow stargazers and dreamers.
'I know nothing with great certainty but the Sight of the stars makes me Dream' - Van Gogh
What this set of Wallpapers has inspired though is a 2 week long search for 2 beautiful quotes that I can illustrate and give out as wallpapers,
Leave a comment either on the blog or here and your quote could be illustrated :)
The labour of love, and many sleepless nights.
and a constant reminder to :
Thank you TED, Thank you all of the INK team and Lakshmi, Shanna, Nilofer, Avijit, Gayatri, Arfaaz, Anders, Inkoniq and everyone else that's part of the big Khoya journey. 22022012 Love Shilo Shiv Suleman
and this was mine. my private universe upon which dreams unfolded, chariots took off
and like water moving through a river, it never remained the same.
I designed this stage over 3 months while working on Khoya for the INK conference this year in Jaipur. As their featured artist of the year, the stage, the book and the entire conference became my canvas, a fertile bed upon which my dreams could take root.
Ofcourse, I had never designed a stage before. But we all start somewhere!
and I started here. A lightbulb, a meticulous cutout in paper, and an idea.
An intricate web of laser cutouts, layers in wood and mdf all hung and studded across the sky with a back projection with constantly changing backdrops. There would not be a moment of static on my stage, the cutouts were silhouetted by two large animations, and over the span of four days, the colours changed, forests were born, clouds gathered and rained upon it, giant butteflies took over the stage and constellations twinkled.
this was the sketch that I'd made of the stage. and saw it come to life.
and so it was, white cutouts, open to being transformed with light. (and some love).
And it changed, it morphed from the deepest purple skies like you see below, complete with shooting stars and rockets.
to golds and ambers and blues.
here's a close up of the cutouts in silhouette.
and quite by accident or fate, while watching it I would see beautiful coincidences, as Julie Taymor, director of Frida and Across the Universe (the namesake to this blog) spoke about a setting sun and the Source of all Inspiration, a sun rose over her head. There she was, source of my inspiration talking about her source on my stage. Tears rose and spilled over.
And by my side, helping me along as I designed my first set were Raghava who brought me in and took me through :) Hilary of bubbles and great bouncy ideas, Paddy of crafty solutions to anything and Anil who laboriously got these produced and dusted. Avijit and my mother and more for moral support and Team Oktopus for endless tracing.
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