Shanthamani Muddaiah is a sculptural artist who uses ephemeral natural materials in her visual art work such as

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, Textile, rags, poaceae, grasses, Feces#Other uses, herbivore dung, or other vegetable sources in water. Once the water is dra ...

and

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, ca ...

to create, install and display exhibits. Her

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

s have been exhibited in many

biennial Biennial means (an event) lasting for two years or occurring every two years. The related term biennium is used in reference to a period of two years. In particular, it can refer to: * Biennial plant, a plant which blooms in its second year and t ...

art shows in India and at many international centers. She has received many awards for her works.

Biography

Muddaiah was born in

Mysore Mysore ( ), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of Mysore district and Mysore division. As the traditional seat of the Wadiyar dynasty, the city functioned as the capital of the ...

, Karnataka in 1967. She graduated with a

Bachelor of Fine Arts A Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) is a standard undergraduate degree for students pursuing a professional education in the visual arts, Fine art, or performing arts. In some instances, it is also called a Bachelor of Visual Arts (BVA). Background ...

(BFA) in Painting from

Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts Chamarajendra Academy of Visual Arts (CAVA) is a visual art school in Mysore, in the state of Karnataka in India. The academy is affiliated to the University of Mysore and offers courses in drawing, painting, sculpture, graphics, applied arts, ...

. Following this, she obtained her

Master of Fine Arts A Master of Fine Arts (MFA or M.F.A.) is a terminal degree in fine arts, including visual arts, creative writing, graphic design, photography, filmmaking, dance, theatre, other performing arts and in some cases, theatre management or arts admi ...

(MFA) degree in painting from the M. S. University

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is a city situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district. The city is named for its abundance of banyan ...

. She studied for one year in 2004 for a course in paper-making under the fellowship of the Charles Wallace Scholarship in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. She has also received the National Junior Fellowship from Ministry of Tourism and Culture,

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

for 2006–08.

Work and Exhibits

The sculpture titled ''Backbone'' made of

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mi ...

and luminous cinder in the form of a large spinal column was exhibited at the

Kochi-Muziris Biennale The Kochi-Muziris Biennale is an international exhibition of contemporary art held in the city of Kochi in Kerala, India. It is the largest art exhibition in the country and the biggest contemporary art festival in Asia. The Kochi-Muziris Bienn ...

in 2014. It measured 7x5x70 ft sculpted in the shape of a

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

ing

river A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...

. The inspiration for this art work came from her three months tour along the meandering

Ganges The Ganges ( ; in India: Ganga, ; in Bangladesh: Padma, ). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

river during 2010, and is considered a metaphor as the "backbone of our culture". Muddaiah also said that an

anesthesia Anesthesia (American English) or anaesthesia (British English) is a state of controlled, temporary loss of sensation or awareness that is induced for medical or veterinary purposes. It may include some or all of analgesia (relief from or prev ...

injection to her spine when in labour gave her the idea for the sculpture.

Jitish Kallat Jitish Kallat (born 1974, Mumbai) is an Indian contemporary artist. He lives and works in Mumbai, India.
Th ...

, the curator of the

2014 where the sculpture was displayed in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

said it is "as if some long gone history is invoked in the form of this seemingly unearthed

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

" and that "the use of

volcanic A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often fo ...

rock like

cinder Cinder or Cinders may refer to: In general * Ember, also called cinder * Ash, also called cinder * Scoria, or cinder, a type of volcanic rock In computing * Cinder (programming library), a C++ programming library for visualization *Cinder, Ope ...

is especially very interesting as the porous surface of the material bears some geological traces, and itself appears like fossils". Another notable sculpture is titled ''Metamorphosis Favourite'' which is a sculpture of

pupa A pupa (; : pupae) is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation between immature and mature stages. Insects that go through a pupal stage are holometabolous: they go through four distinct stages in their life cycle, the stages th ...

that represents the evolution stage between the pupa and the butterfly. It is made from charcoal of wood and pulp of cotton rags. It is suggestive of "decay, morbidity and death". Over the years, some of her other sculptural exhibits are the ''Frozen Phoenix, Silent Speak, Gestures Speak'' and ''Turning wheel -Tradition unbound'' in India and Sri Lanka. Her sculptures are permanent exhibits at the

Venkatappa Art Gallery up K._Venkatappa.html" ;"title="Rama's marriage by K. Venkatappa">Rama's marriage by K. Venkatappa, whose collection is held at the Venkatappa Art Gallery. Venkatappa Art Gallery (VAG) is situated in Bangalore, India, in the vicinity of Cubbon ...

, of the Karnataka State Museum, Bangalore. Her works are also part of many private galleries. In 2019 she collaborated with Settle Stories and people of the

Yorkshire Dales The Yorkshire Dales are a series of valleys, or Dale (landform), dales, in the Pennines, an Highland, upland range in England. They are mostly located in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, but extend into C ...

to create a new work ''Life in our Hands'' which was a video record of conversations with locals about the life and the history of the Craven district where also created images of the participants' hands through the technique of plaster casting. In the same year, she also came up with another sculpture ''Drop''''.'' A visualization of a single drop of ink that is frozen in the moment it touches the ground, it was the memorialization of the significance of each drop. Muddaiah said that the sculpture arose out of her journey from the beginning to the mouth of the river Ganga where she witnessed millions of people offering ''

Arghya ''Tarpana'' or (, , , ) is a term in the Vedic practice that refers to an offering made to divine entities. It refers to the act of offering as well as the substance used in the offering. ''Tilatarpana'' (, , , ) is a specific form of ''tarpana ...

'' (Hindu ritual of offering water to a deity). Seeing them cupping hands full of water and offering them back to the river made her see the allegory in the cyclical nature of life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muddaiah, Shanthamani 1967 births Living people Artists from Mysore 20th-century Indian sculptors 21st-century Indian sculptors Women artists from Karnataka 20th-century Indian women sculptors 21st-century Indian women sculptors