New Delhi
A series of interviews by Tanya Singh and a photographic study conducted by Prapti Kakati
Tanya “Jade Vine” Singh is an Indian trans, non-binary, asexual essayist, poet and editor. In this series they bring us into conversations spanning the multi-disciplinary artist community in New Delhi. Singh’s interviews are short and sweet and serve as a snapshot of each artist’s practice.
Amber Lalmuanpuii Fanai
Amber is a philosophy major at Miranda House - and a singer by passion.
Photography by Prapti Kakati for Speciwomen
Tanya Singh: You’re an amazing singer. Can you tell me a bit about your motivations?
Amber Lalmuanpuii Fanai: Well, I have been singing for as long as I can remember. So, I guess it has always been my passion that motivates to keep singing.
TS: I’m a big fan of your work. What was your inspiration for the song - Miles Away?
ALF: It was 2018. I had just left home to join a band and tour around the country. As fun as it was to get to do what you love the most, there were times it gets really hard to cope with the lifestyle. So, ‘Miles Away’ is basically about how tough it gets to be chasing a dream and that no matter how bad the fight gets, I will keep moving forward and fight my way out. The song means a lot to me.
TS: Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood, and how that has influenced your work?
ALF: Music/Singing has always been something that I love to do, it has always been a hobby growing up. As i said, I’ve been singing for as long as I can remember so when you’ve been doing something for so long, it basically grows to be a part of you. I guess that’s what singing is for me. It’s a part of me and that is the reason I don’t even consider it as a job or work.
TS: What is something that you struggled with in the beginning? How did you overcome it?
ALF: I compared myself a lot with others when I started singing. There were a lot of times I think that I’m not good enough, or my voice is not strong enough or that I don’t have what it takes to really make it big. But what I had accepted as I move along is that every artist is unique in their own way, and that I don’t have to sound like anyone else on the TV or a radio. But then again, I won’t say I have completely overcome it but I am trying everyday to be the best I can and not to compare myself with others.
TS: What are you working on at the moment?
ALF: With college and my job, it gets really hard to for me to focus on myself or to work on anything new. But I am currently working on a song which I hope will be out probably by the beginning of 2020.
Anannya Chatterjee
Anannya is a Bharatanatyam dancer based in Delhi.
Tanya Singh: How were you introduced to Bharatanayam? What made you fall in love with it?
Anannya Chatterjee: I was introduced to Bharatanatyam through my aunt, who also learnt the art form back in her days. Then, I was extremely inspired and invigorated by artistes such as my Guru, Guru Jayalakshmi Eshwar, and other senior artistes such as Guru Rama Vaidyanathan, Guru Leela Samson. Even younger artistes such as Harinie Jeevitha, Archana Raja were huge inspirations for me. To see those clean, aesthetic lines weaved through the body and the face express a thousand emotions, each minutely distinguished from each other yet so prominent in their own, excited me to learn Bharatanatyam. I am still in awe of the way the dancing body moves and expresses through the vocabulary of Bharatanatyam, and I do not think I can ever stop being amazed by its sheer brilliance.
TS: What was the experience like performing on stage for the first time?
AC: I remember I had a painful ligament tear in my right knee. I had no idea about how to dress up, how to put on my jewelry, how to plait my hair. I was clearly a disaster amongst my properly dressed colleagues. I remember shaking from head to toe because I was so scared and under confident about my own body. Even on stage, I was constantly wondering if I am doing the postures, the adavus (steps) in the right way, if I need to sit deeper etc. It was in a temple, and I wished I had let myself free of all the fears and inhibitions, but it taught me a lot about dancing on stage, and what it means to be a dancer in front of an audience.
TS: What does your day look like when rehearsing?
AC: I wake up and do my warm-up and core workout schedule, then I practice the very basic steps and finally go on to the items I wish to rehearse. I am a picky rehearser, and I do not advance unless I get something right. I keep practicing the same movement until I am slightly satisfied. This makes my rehearsals long and arduous, but I don't complain a bit. Very rarely do I let myself just dance an item to its completion without stopping and correcting my flaws. My mother would always be present there during my practices, nudging me and correcting me whenever necessary.
TS: What was the best advice someone gave to you?
AC: When I had just started, I would frequently get painful muscular spasms in my thighs and back, and that would dissuade me from practice. I remember my mother telling to give all the pain to Lord Nataraja ( or whichever higher spirit you believe in) or to the spirit of the dance itself, and keep moving. It is important that a dancer is cognizant of her mistakes and technical prowess, yet it is equally important to lose oneself into the dance, only to receive the joy it provides.
TS: What advice would you give to people who have only just begun?
AC: To someone who has just started, I would suggest them to not give up. It will be tremendously difficult, but it is imperative to look at dance as a medium to let yourself loose, beyond technicalities. Yet, to ease your body to the movements, regular warm ups and workouts are necessary. If you want to take up dance seriously, then it is important to prepare your body for the difficult postures and movements.
TS: What does dance mean to you?
AC: In one sentence: Dance is the oxygen keeping me alive.
TS: What are you working on at the moment?
AC: At the moment, I am busy preparing for an upcoming performance where I am gearing to stage traditional Kalakshetra items, the preparations of which requires intense practice. I am also putting my brains to choreograph a project where Bharatanatyam can speak stories of mental health.
Photography by Prapti Kakati for Speciwomen
Mansi Vijay
Chaotically defined by her degree in literature and descent into poetry, Mansi employs the latter to explain her bittersweetness towards the former.
Photography by Prapti Kakati for Speciwomen
Tanya Singh: When did you perform your first poem? What was the experience like?
Mansi Vijay: I was in the last year of high school when my first poem happened to me. I was just another MUN'ing/debating brat but this time also the Vice Chairperson of the committee and hence more stage presence eh! Our agenda was the International Refugee Crisis and I had so much to say but they were plain hard hitting facts that every alternate kid would have probably researched, consumed and neatly stacked in their prep folders. What they wouldn't care enough to invest in were the faces, fears and tears behind these stories, that statistics most often betray. I put these down, added a rhyme scheme, and weaved something that was no less than magic to my aesthetically deprived self back then. The first time I read it out I wept and sighed all at once. What I was prepared for were a few sparse audience reactions from a room full of kids eager to beat the others down with their comebacks but what I received in return was a stunning silence. A silence followed by an applaud so loud that goosebumps followed and I've never looked back. The stage ever since has been my safe space and my undoing, all in one breath.
TS: What is your creative process? What are you thinking when you’re writing a piece?
MV: I believe any creative process comes from a place of purpose and/or emotion. When these two coalesce and find expression to evoke an echo from even one person in the room who lent you their attention, I believe the process is duly fulfilled. Every piece I invest in originates either as a persistent thought in the metro or as a recurring scar of survival or just a constant need to correct the future. As unreliable as it sounds, I believe for every artist their art can be derived from a dynamic ranging from a place of belonging to one of unflinching vulnerability. When the unpredictability is interspersed with stirring shots of coffee and equally jarring writing blocks, take these as signs that you might be doing it well enough.
TS: Would you like to talk about your intentions as a slam poet, and how it has come about?
MV: My intent as a spoken word performer? Well, as of today, I hope to have a vocabulary wealthy enough to comfort the jolted, and jolt the comforted. For me personally, the easiest thing to get used to is the discomforting play of words. As a politically charged, directionally challenged, five feet measuring, obnoxiously loud twenty year old, I discovered the silencing privileges on stage and the privilege of silences when off of it. It was only until one day the realisation hit; that on some days I'm a cripple but on others I write. And on the days that I do, my words only intend to possess enough meaning to improve upon and move someone out of their silence.
TS: Your current literary favourite?
MV:
"It just sits there, with a mouth
full of entitlement, staring at you
and wondering why it is still
not a masterpiece."
These lines from the piece titled 'Page' in Rudy Francisco's Helium captures the essence of every writing process that I've ever invested in. The book introduces a series of poems that unsettle the ground beneath your feet but all at once hold your hand to remind you that you're human and allowed the fall. Give him and his poetry a chance and it'll give you the world and its vulnerabilities, for better or for verse.
TS: What are you working on at the moment?
MV: I'm exploring my limits in terms of gullibility and political censorship, and ooof the irony! I recently completed a duet with another brilliant artist that I can't wait to put across, it's an unconventional and chilling commentary on the fiction of secularism in our country. Apart from that, I'm currently spending a very conscious amount of time trying to make my anxiety more palatable by putting it down in writing. It's a bittersweet journey I'm ready to partake in. 'That on some days mosaic doesn't count as art but only broken, scattered tiles lumped together. Despite that, there's always going to be someone, something out there reminding you, you are art even on the days you bleed.'
Ankita Kundu
Ankita is a visual artist and writer.
Tanya Singh: I have really enjoyed reading your poetry. There’s so much weight in your words. Do you have any favourite hindi poets? Tell me about your inspirations.
Ankita Kundu: I do not write much in Hindi, but most of them are written from personal experiences, from things that have happened in my life, knitted and put on paper. I like Ghalib, Gulzar, Nirala, Dushyant Kumar, it's a treat to read them.
TS: I have loved every single one of your art pieces. How would you describe your art style?
AK: My art style will be everything that has struck a chord in me. Anything that even slightly touches me i try to bring it on paper. It could be a movie, a book, or a poem I read, or something Ii saw or heard from someone.
TS: How does poetry influence you and your artwork?
AK: I think poetry and art go hand in hand for me. They are complementary to each other. A poem that touches me takes on colours, an artwork that touches you gets bejeweled with words. I think that's how it works.
TS: When did you begin to draw? What does drawing mean to you?
AK: I used to draw as a kid, but then I left. I started drawing again after I came to Delhi, which will be the last year. Drawing has been a great escape for me. When I draw, it just comes down to me and the colours and nothing else matters. It has helped me recover from whatever fears I've been facing, and it means a lot to me.
TS: What are you working on at the moment?
AK: I recently finished this watercolor painting, which was like an amalgamation of the October movie poster and The Starry night. Apart from that, I am currently drawing on bills for this exhibition thing, since most of them go wasted.
Photography by Prapti Kakati for Speciwomen