cyanotype prints inspired by the t.s eliot poem burnt norton as a part of the introduction to printmaking course led by prof. sonam chaturvedi at the jindal school of liberal arts and humanities. the verses i was inspired by are,
Go, go, go, said the bird: human kind
Cannot bear very much reality.
Time past and time future
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present. (from Quartet 1)
and,
Here is a place of disaffection
Time before and time after
In a dim light: neither daylight
Investing form with lucid stillness
Turning shadow into transient beauty
With slow rotation suggesting permanence
Nor darkness to purify the soul
Emptying the sensual with deprivation
Cleansing affection from the temporal.
Neither plenitude nor vacancy. (from Quartet 3)
these reminded me of the ruptured relationship i hold with my parents. my relationship with them has disintegrated over time, tinged with disbelief for the person i have grown to be. eliot’s poem captures the disjunction between past and present, inspired by it, i have tried to incorporate the blues of the medium, images of the sea and my family, and the ghost of fried flowers to create a narrative of something once loved and known but not lost.
