Delving into Roots
Painter as Anthropologist
Dr. Rajasri Mukhopadhyay

Laxman Aelay’s solo exhibition entitled “Euphonic Myths” at the gallery Art Exposure; Kolkata held from 14 September to 06 October 2018 is a tour de force. It exudes a raw energy that translates into a strong appeal, which again comes from the authentic vivacity of portrayal. Folk performers and grass root communities of Telangana come alive in Aelay’s 23 works, mostly black and white – pen and ink on paper, while some have a dash of colours in mixed media, and others are drawings or incisions on carbon paper. Aelay also did a wall painting on the spot, dressed in traditional attire, just before the exhibition was formally inaugurated and thrown open for the public. “The traditional cultural elements of Telengana take the centre stage in the subject matter of Aelay’s works”. Compositions like “The Mother of the Earth” and “The Unknown Melody” are loaded with variegated motifs – dolls, performers, animals – as if they subsume the entire populace and their tradition. That land is a veritable gold mine of rituals and folk culture, with more than 160 folk art forms. Before the advent of electronic media these performers were the main source of entertainment, education, waxing eloquently on caste myths or genealogies (Kulapuranas), subaltern religion, commentaries on social conditions and protests. The paintings and drawings celebrate and uphold both the communities like Golla (shephards) or Baindla (a sub caste of Madiga) as well as ethnic instruments like Dappu, Dolu or Kommu and the folk Goddesses like Gangamma – the goddess of water, Yellama and Peddamma. They also allude to the past and ongoing oppressions. For example in “The echo of Dappu” the players are Harijans, clad in Gandhi like attires with an image of Ambedkar staring at the viewers from a dappu and their path is strewn with nails. A recumbent figure pierced by the nails lie on the path and several small figures lurk throughout the canvas, twisted and distorted with pain and humiliation, trying to escape from the black holes of miseries. Aelay employs a mix of cubist fragmentation and expressionism, with a hint of realism to achieve his desired effect. His lines are fine but bold, full of intricate details, as in “The known and Unknown”. In this we meet raconteurs of Beda Budaga Jangalu, who advocates the social reformations of Veera Shaivite tradition. Their garments and peacock feathers tucked in the turbans are drawn with much care that comes from a keen observation. The birds and animals depicted in this work perhaps refer to the close connection they have with Nature and a concern for ecological preservations. A conversation with the artist reveals how he came to observe and document the activities of these communities, when he did his doctoral research on visual culture – a study on oral and visual narrative tradition of Telangana, from the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. For him, it was going back to his roots. Both his research and this show have autobiographical elements. Laxman Aelay hails from the Padmashali community of weavers. Born in rural interiors, he was nurtured among the very people he chooses to depict in his mid life, revisiting them. The childhood memories merge with maturity and modernity to create works such as “The Lost Dream”, where the artist laments the loss of his childhood and village or “The Kunapuli”, inspired by the lone surviving story teller of his own community Padmashali, who follows both Shaivism and Vaishnavism. The ethnic instruments depicted in Aelay’s compositions bring home the specific regional flavour as well as similitude with other folk instruments from another part of India. For example the instrument played by the subaltern priests of Baindla community is very similar to the Khamak – the stringed percussion of the Bauls of Bengal. The stringed instrument used to narrate the Shaaradakaandru has a striking resemblance to the Sarangis played by the folk singers of Rajasthan. The attire of Ghussadi dancers of Kommu-Koya tribe as portrayed in.