Rootlessness and the Duende

Introduction

In this note, I hope to share new experiences that touch something in you and allow us to see the world with new eyes. I am attempting to do so from the vantage point of holding the roles of a coach and consultant, and artist and designer, who manages Human Centered Design Studio . The studio is the place from where I partner with clients and collaborators to creatively respond to a context, that has especially changed quite dramatically since our journey through the pandemic and after. Your comments and reflections are most appreciated.

Feeling rootless

Wednesday, April 19, 2023 - I had been feeling rootless…much of what had been had come apart. Life at home had changed dramatically. And life at work had come to a standstill. Outside of these two domains, friendships and community had seemed to simply vanish. I cannot deny, now that I look back, I felt utterly unanchored, resourceless and lost. And it is a visit to this exhibition at the Snowball Studios and many others over the course of last few months that began to give me a feeling of home - a place where I could feel safe, allow myself to feel fully, see more clearly, make new meaning, and begin to feel rooted and alive again.

Mūḷ Māthī // from the roots

I start from any point on the canvas that suits me, and from there on the painting grows like a tree or a creeper."

Madhvi Parekh, Mūḷ Māthī // from the roots

A flexible word-'mul'- means a starting point, a foundation, or a root in a variety of Indian languages, including Gujarati--a tongue and culture that artists Manu and Madhvi Parekh were steeped in. Mul has an earthiness, and can mean 'native', like the embroidery techniques, but also 'primal, like the raw force exuded. And yet, mul remains just a humble starting point, for it is a network of multitudinous roots that holds up a mighty tree, as it is the collaboration of artists, craftspersons, and a design house that brings works to life."

Experiencing Duende

I share these here because they brought such a sense of relief…and struck something primitive and tribal in my own self - I am not certain how to explain my experience of them. In hindsight, the only association I could find for this experience is duende or tener duende ("to have duende") - a Spanish term for a heightened state of emotion, expression and authenticity, often connected with flamenco. El duende has been defined as the spirit of evocation, "a state of tragedy-inspired ecstasy,"a poetic emotion which is uncontrolled." It comes from inside as a physical/emotional response to art. It is what gives us chills, makes us smile or cry as a bodily reaction to an artistic performance that is particularly expressive. Folk music in general, especially flamenco, tends to embody an authenticity that comes from a people whose culture is enriched by diaspora and hardship; vox populi, the human condition of joys and sorrows.

Being shaken

What I found striking in the expressions was the intensity of the colors, the primitive forms and the large-scale crafting of the artworks. These were hauntingly married with the manner of display by the studio - black, spacious, and distant from each other. Together they created an immersive experience that demanded withstanding, while being taken over. There was hardly anyone at the time that I had visited, and being alone with these jolted me out of my stupor. In their presence I was so small…and they so large; I had a feeling of being swallowed by them. It's only later that I learnt that, in the broadest sense, folk art refers to the art of the people, as distinguished from the elite or professional product that constitutes the mainstream of art. Perhaps it is this "art of the people" that touched the common and universal in me, and acted as a reminder that the elite in me, after all, is only a small group of "powerful" parts who have grabbed the disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill.

Letting the heart be opened

Primitive parts in me, of me, felt freed. Tears rolled down…and I knew there wasn't anyone watching, so I had no reason to hide this unplanned and unexpected opening of my heart. The crooked lines, the lack of order, the sense of imbalance, and the absence of perfect symmetry were screaming at me - "you have the permission to be a child and be celebrated! You can express what is in your heart...Go ahead…you need not be afraid. See how much space there is for being messy, primitive and imperfect." Perhaps Donald Winnicott, one the most original and creative thinkers in the history of psychoanalysis after Freud, articulated it best when he spoke of the “potential space” as the space for experiencing life creatively, be it a landscape, a theatrical or musical performance, a poem, or another individual. To him, it is here that meaningful psychotherapy takes place, even though its origins lie in the early reliable relationship between the infant and the mother (or other caretaker). Winnicott had written:

“I have tried to draw attention to the importance both in theory and in practice of a third area, that of play, which expands into creative living and into the whole cultural life of man… [this] intermediate area of experiencing is an area that exists as a resting-place for the individual engaged in the perpetual human task of keeping inner and outer reality separate yet interrelated… it can be looked upon as sacred to the individual in that it is here that the individual experiences creative living.”

Working with the power and willing to struggle

Christopher Maurer, editor and translator of Federico García Lorca's In Search of Duende, highlighted at least four elements in Lorca's vision of duende: irrationality, earthiness, awareness of death, and the diabolical. Lorca had written: "The duende, then, is a power, not a work. It is a struggle, not a thought. I have heard an old maestro of the guitar say, 'The duende is not in the throat; the duende climbs up inside you, from the soles of the feet.' Meaning this: it is not a question of ability, but of true, living style, of blood, of the most ancient culture, of spontaneous creation." Lorca, in his lecture, quotes Manuel Torre: "everything that has black sounds in it, has duende." [i.e. emotional 'darkness'] ... This 'mysterious power which everyone senses and no philosopher explains' is, in sum, the spirit of the earth, the same duende that scorched the heart of Nietzsche, without knowing that the duende he was pursuing had leaped straight from the Greek mysteries to the dancers of Cadiz or the beheaded, Dionysian scream of Silverio's siguiriya." ... "The duende's arrival always means a radical change in forms. It brings to old planes unknown feelings of freshness, with the quality of something newly created, like a miracle, and it produces an almost religious enthusiasm." ...

Taking it forward

Bringing this note together and working to a closure, I am present to the struggle and the search, and the chance encounter with the power of collaboration by artists, craftsman, designers and curators in ways that rootlessness becomes a starting point. The work of Daved Barry and Stefan Meisiek in "Discovering the Business Studio" comes to my mind:

"What studios are becomes clear when we compare them with laboratories, including those commonly found in business schools. The making in laboratories has a scientific emphasis where controls, prediction, lawful explanations, and utility rule the day. With both studios and laboratories, learning by making is intimately tied to space and place, but in different ways. Studios encourage spaces where inspiring accidents and creative associations can fortuitously happen, while laboratories discourage the accidental and unpredictable. Within educational settings like business schools, laboratories emphasize a tightly controlled inquiry process, bound by models and formulas, rather than the unscientific learning by creative making seen in teaching studios."

The artists -

Madhvi Parekh is an Indian contemporary artist living in New Delhi. Her work revolves around childhood memory, women’s craft, folk art and Indian myths. Although her inspirations are traditional, her style is contemporary as she was greatly influenced by Paul Klee. It represents folk art but does not draw from any one specific folk tradition. She is the wife of Manu Parekh, an Indian painter, known for his several paintings on the city of Varanasi. Reported to be influenced by Rabindranath Tagore and Ram Kinker Baij, Parekh is a recipient of the 1982 Lalit Kala Akademi Award, and the Padma Shri, in 1991.

Drawing for him was not and has not been for public display. It is a private process where ideas are developed, much in a way a schoolboy might go to the tuck shop and get a cake to eat under a tree while class is in progress. He entered modernism via Paul Klee, and then decided to experiment with creating a modernism that was engaged with India’s vernacular art forms such as rangoli, embroidery etc., which were familiar to him from his childhood in Gujarat.

The craftspersons -

Known for creating the extraordinary, Chanakya school School of Craft is inspired by timelessness and rarity. The school began its journey to showcase the everlasting heritage of hand embroidery began in 1986. Helmed by Creative Director Karishma Swali, generations of artisans, art aficionados, preservers and advocates work towards a singular purpose: to ensure that the magic of artisans lives on forever.

The designers -

Maria Grazia of the Dior House was the designer. Christian Dior's House was founded in 1946 and his visionary spirit never ceased to glorify women all over the world. Season after season, this exceptional heritage is reinvented by the singular creative passion, force and modernity of the House’s Creative Directors who – from haute couture to perfumes – make the Dior magic live on.

The curators -

Asia Society India Centre enhances dialogue, encourages creative expression and generates ideas in the areas of business and policy, and arts and culture. It was inaugurated in 2006 by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and has hosted over 300 events since its inception, establishing itself as a leading public education platform. The India Centre, through its diverse and multidisciplinary programming initiatives including public lectures, business discussions, policy roundtables, guided art tours, performances, lecture demonstrations and leadership programmes, cultivates nuanced understandings of Asia Pacific affairs. The India center is a part of a global network of centers that share a common vision, actively collaborate with their centers and partners across Asia and the world.