The World Within

Standing at the cusp of reality and the fantastical disposition of the shadows of mythical world, my artwork celebrates feminine strength, and is a representation of many concepts together on one canvas. This rectangle-shaped bolus canvas is my homage to the divine power representing feminine energy. That force of the feminine which brings every being existing in this universe into balance and poise. The feminine is the orchestrator of life and death, the bearer of the Golden Womb. It is she who plays the enchantress in my artworks.

Maya, the form of feminine energy emerges at the centre of the painting with her winged swan. As Baba Nanak wrote, Maya created the universe, and she has three valets who are always ahead of everything, and Maya manages the universe through them.

एका माई जुगति विआई तिनि चेले परवाणु ॥

इकु संसारी इकु भंडारी इकु लाए दीबाणु ॥

Maya is the pure consciousness. She is the awakened one, and through her mind and hair we see thousands of yogini sitting on lotuses emerging and taking form – they are getting awakened by Maya.

Looming over the entire sight in this painting is the Moon cycle; the cycle of life and birth on earth, the source of light and illumination in darkness, the representation of growth and manifestation. The feminine body in all manifestations as animals or plants is directly related to moon cycle.

A narrative about life and stability in the cosmos appears in the painting. The Shiva Parivar riding their special vahan is going for a walk together, like in real life a family taking a stroll. Goddess Shakti rides a white lion signifying the spiritually awakened. Imageries of the Tree of Life, peacocks, meditating figures, and the Yin and Yang fill the space above them; all indicating the balance of energies. A herd of deer runs in search of Kasturi, which is within them. Complementing this herd is the herd of monkeys representing the monkey mind; the fickle human mind always in search of stillness and peace outside, which in reality is within. Training this capricious mind is the Goddess riding the Golden lion, signifying the Guru. The Yoni Mudra promoting the flow of energies and calmness of mind crowds the space, while Shiva sits there still – tranquil, playing his Veena. The image of Surya, the Sun God riding his seven horses, the dispeller of darkness also finds its place here, suggesting the rhythm of every day and the seven colors of light shining on us. I have painted multiple images of the divine female riding the six-trunked white Airavata (elephant) with grand wings charging to the sky. The Goddess embodies the purity, grace, and majesty of the celestial elephant and disseminates prosperity in this universe.

… I put the woman at the center of the universe.

I put the man at the center of the universe.

It was this ‘completion’ of the cosmos that fascinated me.

Why should one be without the other?

A woman is composite, whole, complete.

She is also a sum, a part, incomplete.

Great, but not greater than the universe.

She is a creature of myths, metaphors and autobiography.

Part real, part mythical.

Part mortal, part immortal.

Part temporal, part celestial.

So is nature, as are men and women.

I eye this world, I pay it homage, I paint its story, I am the tree, I hold the universe in the spread of my arms.

– Excerpt of the poem ‘I AM’, 2012 by Seema Kohli