Dimple B Shah
Nicolás Dumit Estévez Raful Espejo: Dimple B Shah, I first became aware of your work through my dear mentor, friend and art mother Linda Mary Montano. In her creative way of using language, she told me something like you turn in 04986843897695769560-93456 performances a year. I am laughing joyfully as I type this rosary of numbers and think of Linda. How did the two of you meet?
Dimple B Shah: Thank you for your questions and, thanks to Linda Mary Montano for introducing my work to you. I passionately work with performance and I am a workaholic. That being the case, I keep pursuing my aptitude to perform. In the process, I experiment and also explore new possibilities. It is a kind of a daily dose of creativity, like drawing and painting. To achieve the target, I keep on working calibrating my subconscious thoughts. I transform them into a visual language no matter which medium my performance piece requires.
I met Linda Mary Montano in Sweden when we were both invited by Jonas Stampe and Joakim Stampe for Live Action 11 in 2016. I was so mesmerized and inspired by her art/ life performances. Although the festival was 5 days, and my meeting with Linda was short, we keep in touch through emails and Facebook, and she always encourages and appreciates my work. She also asked me to write a book about my art practice as she has followed my posts on Facebook on my new and old performance works since 2016. I respect her thoughts and I am sure that in the future I will write a book about my art practice if I find some sponsor to support my writing.
NDERE: While talking about Q&As, Linda made me aware of the great gift that those who are responding to my questions present me with. She is so right, each one of those I talk with through these Q&Is become a teacher to me, revealing messages that I, and hopefully others, can use to continue to awaken. Would you tell me about any teachers who have presented themselves to you unexpectedly?
DBS: For me, I don't have any particular teacher. My first teachers were my parents and they have guided me throughout my life in difficult times. They have enlightened me about Jainism philosophies and values. And another relevant teacher in my life is learning through my experiences. There have been strenuous times seeing floods, experiencing earthquakes, witnessing communal riots, and all these things when I was alone. These have taught me lessons to understand life and death-like situations, so I can closely understand humans and humanity. I have seen both good human beings who have helped in tough times like the floods. In 2005, in Mumbai, I was stranded in a flood, and a stranger helped me reach my destination. If that stranger had not extended a helping hand, I would have drowned on that night, and become an unclaimed body. Many lost their lives in that a rain that arose in the middle of the night. The stranger was holding the collar of my shirt as I was jumping in the waters, which were nearing my neck. In 2002, has been a witness to communal riots in Baroda (Gujarat). I stayed in a closed house for a week, surrounded by burning houses and black commandos patrolling. In these situations, I have survived and I have learned a lot and become stronger. One more thing I wanted to share is that I learn from common people and all of the people who I have met throughout my life. I credit all teachers who helped me in my path.
NDERE: What about messages, whether images, pictures, or visions that may have come to you in a flash? How have they influenced life and creativity for you?
DBS: The flashes that I get from the stillness of mind are the main driving force for my creative processes. I cannot agree more that these are a crucial source to me. When I contemplate, I get visions and images to create works. When my mind is preoccupied with everyday routines, nothing comes out of it. On the other hand, stillness allows the visuals and ideas to start coming. They come like a flash and, I take note and follow them. It's a hint and, then gingerly, I develop my creative work to bring the essence that I have experienced during these visions. This is my process to connect to my subconscious and do creative work.
NDERE: I am not sure if you meditate. I do. I also journal, pray…All of this can be anathema in the art world. But I could care less. After all, I am called to respond to life and not to any made-up worlds. I am getting at the idea of the download. When I meditate, I tend to get downloads, meaning ideas that come as I seek to sit still and be with what is. I take a quick mental note and move on to be with the breath, or the feeling, emotion that is emerging at that moment.
Too many words! Do you receive creative downloads? If so, where would you dare to say they come from?
DBS: ho! I just answered your question partially before reading this one. To elaborate further, I do get creative downloads and, they are strong with sparks. I would call them a ritual to enter one's subconscious mind. I perceive when I think deeply about how we get these signals. I observe they are coming from the space of consciousness of the universe within us. All this information is there. It is only a matter of tuning into signals. When we meditate we try to tune into the super consciousness of the universe where all these creative thoughts are already there. We need to connect with these. When our minds are too much occupied by worldly activities and routines, we cannot tune into it. I meditate slowly to reach the point of stillness and reach out to this super consciousness. That is why we sometimes see similar ideas come out concurrently by different people without experiencing a real connection to each other, since it is already there in the super consciousness space.
NDERE: I am extremely interested in the concept of The Mother. I have worked with my mother on several occasions. In 2007, she sent me off to Germany where I invited the Holy Infant of Prague to take over me for several days and, so I renounced my personality for that time. My mother made the vestment of the Holy Infant. Linda Mary Montano also worked with her mother way back, and I see that you work with your mother as well. Any insights?
DBS: I am very close to my mother. My relationship has deepened as I am living with her for the past 12 years due to her illness. The emotional bond has become even stronger. I share my thoughts with her, my creative ideas, and my emotional traumas. My mother has also evolved from a homemaker, to slowly become an artist. For the past five years or more, she has started to draw and paint and I encouraged her to do so to divert her from negative thinking and, since then she has shown tremendous interest and now is slowly becoming an artist. I have shared my first thought and idea of performances with her for the last two years. Mother has collaborated with me in my performances. The bond between mother and daughter is strong, unconditional and, the backbone of our strength. Words are not enough to explain our relationship.
NDERE: I am working with my mother during a research fellowship at the Hispanic Society of America in New York. How do you invite your mother to enter your work; what is her understanding of it and, how might she shape it in ways that which you may not have foreseen?
DBS: As I have mentioned earlier, I share every idea of my performances with my mother and, she has gotten a good insight in this area as she has seen me perform over so many years. She has good observation and good insightfulness to inform me in regards to my work. Last year I collaborated with her on a performance entitled The Eternal Bond, which was about this very connection and relationship. We are connected through the heart and, anything that happens to me, Mother is the first one to react and respond. For The Eternal Bond, we never thought before we came up with this work as I was speculating about another performance; at that moment we both thought we should create this work together. She immediately agreed to collaborate and also to perform along with me. She took me by surprise, as usually she is not that extroverted. This work turned out to be a most beautiful performance piece, one that I had never imagined. Later, we did a collaborative performance piece entitled Prayer of Shaman. Mother's enthusiastic attitude made it possible. We are planning another piece when she recovers from heart surgery. Now I am planning to make a small documentary on the life of my mother.
NDERE: I am thinking of the dichotomy when it comes to societies valuing women but also trying to devalue them. It is as if, in general, the so call penis envy that Freud talked about is actually the opposite. It is as if generally speaking, the envy is of the power of The Mother. In a sense, that has put the Earth in jeopardy. Can you talk about that from whatever perspective resonates with you?
DBS: I feel females and males have their roles in society. These polarities of body-mind gender realities are hinted at in the image Ardhanareswari’s form of Shiva (half Shiva and Half Parvathi). It explains that our minds resonate with both energies. When we observe our social framework, patriarchal power rules the world. Only some tribes still follow the matriarchal rule. In my opinion, the world can't be ruled by the perspective of one dominant sex; it needs both. The world is longing for love and care, that is, the power of mother/women and the energy of the male; the power of father/male. I am a great follower of some concepts of Freud from my early years. Opinion contradicts his theories, as all this analysis focused upon one particular age (adolescence). Overall I feel every individual resonates and acts to the conditions they come from and, I have a different perspective about the envy part. I never sensed it. I know and understand all genders have potential and power.
NDERE: Parthenogenesis is a concept that fascinates me. Den Poitras has quite a story about a woman who supposedly was able to achieve this. I surrender all judgment and open up to the idea of what if this were possible.
DBS: Parthenogenesis technically and scientifically cannot happen to humans. This needs scientific research in the laboratory. We do have many references in our mythological stories where women have become mothers by themselves: Kunti, mother of five pandavas with her husbands as Agni ( fire god) Vayu (air god ), Yama and two Ashwins in the Mahabharata. People believe it firmly and, this belief is shared in both mythological texts and oral histories. It is a fascinating subject to think about, and altogether a different world to imagine. The whole societal setup will change as it may be. It might be like Khasis: India’s Indigenous matrilineal society in Meghalaya, India, I imagine.
NDERE: Why perform when life is so complex and intriguing? Why do you perform? I guess I am posing this question while thinking about issues of non-duality. I have heard some people talk as to how they no longer need to meditate because they approach life as meditation.
DBS: To seek answers to those intriguing questions given by life's complex structure is not as simple as that. My quest for the philosophical and the existential pushed me to performance. Through the performance process I enter into a state of consciousness. Performance art has helped me to see art/ life as one and then, everything one does in everyday life becomes seeking and meditative and, that is how life becomes meditative. When you seek truth, learn from all activities like continuous veneration, and then it automatically becomes meditative. For example, if you contemplate making roti in a round form, you might be resonating with the movement of the Earth, and then it becomes automatically meditative. It occurs even in the case of when you are watering plants; the beauty and connection to plants automatically generates the feeling of sharing life, beauty and learning to be humble and caring, which can bring one closer to super consciousness. All that matters is how one approaches life. It is not rocket science; it is an act of realization.
NDERE: At a more practical level, how is it for a woman to perform in Bangalore? I am not necessarily implying challenges with my question. I am open to wherever you want to take me with your response.
DBS: To be frank, women are vulnerable, no matter where. It is a matter of different intensities from city to city. To talk about Bangalore, I feel safe in some areas and, it matters what hour I am presenting a performance. Till now I never encountered any such incidents but, I did feel it when I performed in Kolkata, walking with a bowl of turmeric in my hands asked people to smear /shower turmeric on me, during this performance, when there was a large crowd, I felt a hand reach my face and I felt it to be the wrong kind of touch. That is one incident I could recollect. If I choose to perform in the street at odd hours, then there might be some challenges. Overall, I feel safe to perform in Bangalore.
NDERE: Tell me about ritual.
DBS: For me, I perceive it is a process to enter and be involved in the performance. It is a process and a moment created to have an emotional and psychological exchange within oneself and with the audience. It is a process to enter a state of consciousness. it can start with any small act, to one that is strenuous or laborious, to achieve that experiential and transforming state. There are several paths to achieve a state of ecstasy. One of the ways is ritual. It comes naturally, as in my culture we have the custom of doing so many rituals: geometric designs (rangoli) outside on front doors, to rituals of praying to plants and cleansing the homes; all these are part of life. I started incorporating elements of rituals in my early performance art practice with a different understanding. Earlier, my works were spontaneous and impulsive emotive responses to situations and conditions I experienced. Then I started questioning myself, questioning the purpose of making performance work. Then I realized it is not just about merely responding. One also needs to find elixir /catharsis through work. Gradually it evolved from elaborate research on alchemy, healing and catharsis in the quest to enquire about the healing processes and ways to achieve a state of catharsis through performances. Henceforth I started incorporating elements of rituals and this turned out to be transformative and to have a magical effect. I also incorporated elements that were medicinal as I was doing elaborate alchemical study and its processes of Rasa shastra, like how one can gradually enter into this state which is smooth and not forced—how I could facilitate my audience to enter this particular state through a process which I feel is ritual-like. Subsequently, I researched alchemy and Rasa shastra for 15 years along with 10 years of research on shamanistic practices. I believed it help me unearth its potential and, it became part of my work process.
NDERE: I would like to close this conversation by making space for anything that you would like to say that I may have not touched upon and to thank dear L¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡nda! In Spanish, we use an opening and closing symbol in any exclamation (¡!). I use the opening exclamation symbol instead of the i in Linda. That is how I feel about her; as open to mystery, laughter, life (death included).
DBS: I wholeheartedly want to thank Linda Mary Montano for introducing me to you and it was a pleasure to share my art/life experience with you. I would also like to thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about my art/life experience.
I wish to conclude that I feel in a particular stage when we will reach a point when we no longer need to perform, since we have achieved consciousness. Nevertheless, I continue as a performance artist to feel we need to transform in order to transmit and to create a ripple effect. Also, to share knowledge of what we have come to create in a moment of transformation. As a woman, I know the world is longing for love and care that is scarce. Art is a rescuer that can help people heal fast. Performance art deals in real space with the corporeal while creating resonating energy of care and healing. I am a seeker and my search is still on a journey that has just started. I have a long way to go; conceivably we need to find art nirvana. This is my interpretation. I am here to seek. My journey is ongoing.
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Dimple B. Shah is a multidisciplinary artist based in Bangalore. She studied at Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Gujarat. Throughout her career, Shah has worked in painting, printmaking, installation, video art and performance. With an intention to blend these media into an interdisciplinary language and a developing practice spanning decades, her work has primarily found its focus through humanitarian issues.