prints & paper

The four plates are works produced as part of Murali Cheeroth’s inspiring elective, ‘Prints & Graphics’, conducted successively across semesters in CEPT around 2001.

Although created at different times, the two sets of expressions – one of lithographs and the other of handmade paper – seem to fall comfortably in the category of ‘memory.’

Part of a series of six plates created with reference to memory, the two handmade papers employ an organic object to explore two kinds of memories: one as trace and the other as embedded memory – the prior fleeting & amorphous and the latter visibly entrenched. It’s fascinating to see the use of paper-pulp-turned-fabric to directly embed objects & memories as against its conventional use for textual or graphic recording.

The two lithprints too present interesting references to my personal memory. The black & white graphic – created with myriad bold & fine strokes – is a sketch of my brother’s feet from a family trip. It’s a fleeting memory.

The graphic in color translates a sketch of ‘the ramp‘ into layers of yellow, red & green. While the strategic use of the three colors lends a dramatic spatiality to the image, the sketch itself renders the void of the background to make the geodesic dome visible; anchoring the ramp in a particular time in the history of CEPT.