Session 38 summary
Rangskhembor shares some of his works, most of which are from the series ‘Turmeric and Ash’ and some from his other projects. He had started using turmeric and ash in his works from 2020. He says that for an artist the medium is very important, so during the 2020 lockdown he used ash as a medium which was greatly influenced by the occasion of Ash Wednesday. By using ash as the medium he wanted to bring the tribal story of sun and moon. Since ash has been a symbol of death, remorse and repentance he wanted to include turmeric because it is a colour that acts like a hope.
His work ‘Symbai’ was done during the lockdown, it is inspired by the potatoes growing underneath the ground and Rangskhembor feels that people are also in a similar situation of being confined to a place. Just like how potatoes are dug out, his work gives hope to the people to come out of their confinement. ‘The Sun and the Moon’ is about the eclipse which is like a meeting time of the sun and the moon who finally get together. Since this series was done during the lent season, Rangskhembor blended the folklore of Khasi’s with the resurrection of Christ.
Rangskhembor keeps shifting with mediums which can be seen in his variety of works like collages with calendars and rice project. The rice project, which was a commissioned work, is inspired by the local practise of calling the men of the house-‘the rice of the house’. Each rice grain has individual characteristics, similarly humans have unique individual characteristics. He has also experimented with rain as he wanted nature to also take part in the works. In this he took a line which is plane and straight but after putting it under the rain the line underwent changes which creates different patterns. For the Kyllang Rock project he took textures of the actual rock with crayons and then these textured papers were stuck to a monolith. This project is going to be displayed in Delhi.
During his academic years he had been experimenting with various mediums. One of his project was inspired by the ripples of water and he tried to recreate them with A4 papers. He made sculptures out of bamboo and Khadi cloth, landscape installations were made out of newspaper, etc. He also experimented with books by turning it into a sculpture. Unlike the common intention for fame, Rangskhembor does not intends for his work to go viral as it would push his work to become a product.
About the Speaker
Rangskhembor Mawble
Visual Artist
Khrum Art Studio
Mairang, Meghalaya
Rangskhembor Mawble is a practising visual artist from Mairang, Meghalaya. He completed his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts from Kala Bhavana, Visvabharati, Santiniketan. Presently he teaches in a School, MairangVidyajyoti Inclusive Secondary School, SangshongMairang.
