Art talk with Sanjoy Chakraborty

Sanjoy Chakraborty, a contemporary Bengali Artist, is working concurrently on illustration, performance art, conceptual art and painting. He is working as an associate professor of Department of History of Art, University of Dhaka, and also working on the folk art of Bangladesh. Each of his artwork contains exotic red colour impression and its pattern is very unique. 


How do you explain art?
From my personal observation, I would like to say, art is an essential part of life as taking food, breathing, sleeping and other necessary activities. Regarding this, one of Rabindranath's quotes is very favourite of mine which says, "One does not really die for hunger cravings, but can die for heart yearnings."
See, if we just need to sit down or to sleep, five feet by five feet space is enough for one, but we need a full room for us, why? The extra part of the room what we use for walking or moving is something similar of art and relevant with life. Art is such component of life without which we will not loss anything of life but our life can be enlivened with this.  

What interests you to work with folk art?
As I said before, art is not divergent from life; I felt the intensity of this in folk art. I found urban art very imposed, in some cases, we don't even know why are we doing it. On the other hand, I think folk art is so pragmatic. Folk art is serving our needs. Whether I'm having food, wearing dress, sleeping on a mat, or decorating my house, we can see the existence of it through regular life.
For example, the cover we use during sleep saves us from cold. The design of the cover doesn't have any impact on the temperature of cold but it pacifies our senses. This is the biggest power of folk art that we can never note it as undesired or as adjunct. Folk art is something which can never be separated from life.

Why are you interested in Bengali folk art mostly? What's the reason behind it?
Of course, it's very important to feel your own things first. I have personally experienced our folk art, as it's related to my life and I grew up seeing and experiencing those. So, from the experiences of mine I am inspired to work with Bangladeshi folk art. Moreover, I personally believe that if something is closed to your heart you can make a better piece of art with that.

As a contemporary artist, what is the necessity of folk art to you?
That's a very rational question. I live in Bangladesh, the weather, the climate, the views; surely I will not get those in Siberia. Or Siberian people will not get theirs in Bangladesh. Every part of the world has different characters; those characters actually inspire their arts.
Folk art is a child of nature; one cannot exclude their root, their values, even if they want. Nature can never be untrue, so is folk art. Rabindranath Tagore wrote throughout his life but at the last days of his life, he started painting. May be, he tried to depict his untold emotions through art; most of the paintings are poetic in dark ways which are very different from his writing.

According to you, which modern art forms should be practiced in our country?
I would prefer not to see ourselves from materialistic perspective. We need to be more focused on our own culture. Always, we will learn seeing others; this is not right. This tendency obstructs us from knowing our own selves. Mangal Shobhajatra is something very unique where every Bengali people from different faiths gather together on the procession which you can never see in traditional art exhibitions. Cultural sanity is very important in modern art practice.

You are one of those few artists who are working on performance art. What is performance art to you?
Well, performance art is in practice these days, but it's not only about performance art. I paint, I do installation and I'm engaged with sight specific artworks. I think these are just the terms of contemporary art practice, for me, any appropriate way to express your feeling is art. When an artist involves his body to express his emotions, it's called performance art. Each of this art form needs to be coherent to the demands of contemporary time; otherwise those art forms can make no sense.

Most of your artworks carry vermilion red colour: is there any particular meaning for using it intentionally?
Of course, every artist has his own styles and actually it's an expression of their experience. There is a story behind it. I'm from Chittagong, in Chittagong people, the majority, used slang for the Hindus termed as 'dandi'. I was not okay with it. After that, when I moved to India for study, I was thinking it will be a place of peace as none will address me as 'dandi' here. But after going there, I was proven wrong because people used to address me as 'bangal', with the connotation of slang.
I went through severe identity crisis and voraciously studied about identity crisis, clashes of black and white, Muslims and Christians, and figured it that the identity is actually something given by others. People may have different habits, may look different but everyone has the same colour inside the skin. Through my art I wanted to include all in the reflections of life.

Are you inspired by anyone or any particular artist?
Three people greatly inspired me. One is my grandmother, who taught me about life, one is my higher secondary school teacher Babul sir, and third one is the famous personality of art world, Shovon Some. Besides them, I am very inspired by Zainul Abedin, Kamrul Hasan, Dharma Das Narayan and Marc Chagall's artworks.

As you are working with both contemporary and folk art, do you find them inter-connected?
Definitely, I try to portray my relation between me and my land and the situation of the country in my art works. In one of my performance art, I drew the map of Bangladesh from my blood, to show my connection with my land more organically. In many installations of mine, I tried to connect folk life and us.

What changes do you expect from our art industry?
Art is a great form to serve my country through teaching. I would like the next generations to know the situations of our country and their own place in it. This will help to develop us as a nation which will help to achieve the ultimate goal.

The writer is a graduate, Department of
History of Art, University of Dhaka