A passage to Kallar, from Manchester

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: It was an escape from the concrete prison for Jennifer McDonald from Manchester, England, when she came to do an art residency at Gowri Art Institute, here in Kallar. She says it was a magnetic pull to get into nature and to live on the edge of a forest that brought her to the residency programme run by renowned artist Sajitha Shanker.

At the fag end of her residency programme and getting ready for an exhibition of her work at Vyloppilli Samskrithi Bhavan, Jenny said that most of her work was, ironically, not inspired by nature.

"I think it was more inspired by the events of the previous month before I started the residency programme. I had been travelling all over India and the images and the ideas that I collected were flowing out," said Jennifer.

And even while she was giving space to her subconscious, she used to step back and try to make connections between the images and the ideas and often paused to see if the viewer could make sense of her work.

"This is also the reason why I want many artists to come and visit my exhibition. I want to know their reaction to my work of art and I want to communicate with them," she said. The exhibition, titled ‘Containment’, will open on Friday at 6 pm and will go on till February 17.

The residency at Gowri Art Institute, near Kallar, for Jennifer, was also a challenge because she felt very vulnerable without the usual modes of communication and even the internet.

"There were times when I asked myself what I was doing at a place, far away from the reassurances. But the people in Kallar, though initially inquisitive, accepted me into their fold and I think this acceptance did help me a lot. There was loneliness, at times stifling, and I would go for long walks into the forest," she recollected.

It was one of these walks that took Jennifer to one of the most exciting and memorable moments of her life.

"I was walking through a valley and I came to this waterfall. I sat down there and butterflies were flying all around me. I got down close to them, as close as physically possible and yet they would not fly away. And I really saw a butterfly ejaculating! I was blown away," said Jennifer in all excitement. It was only then that Jennifer realised why they had let her close to them.

"They couldn’t be bothered anyway."

Her walks also helped her make friends with the local people, helped her learn to eat food with her hands and even a little lessons in showing affection.

"In England, people don’t touch each other and we flinch even if someone accidentally touches you. Here, when I was down, Sugandhi, the staff at Gowri Art, would come and just touch my shoulder. It was such a comforting gesture," she said.

Jennifer, who was always influenced by Eastern philosophy, is very anxious to show her work to an Indian audience. "Certain things are repulsive to some, sometimes horrifying and sometimes provocative, while the same might look desirable to some others. I want to know how an Indian person would feel about my work," she repeated.

reema_narendran@expressbuzz.com