Stemming from an interest in indigenous Indian tree rituals, AUM manifests as a multimedia interpretation of the sacred sound ‘a-u-m’ recognised as the first sound and vibration of the Universe in Hinduism. Chakravarthi meaningfully explores and unifies this connection through self-portraiture, and topographic studies of the land, and flora found at BGNR. The digital photographic compositions and films render a merging of the artist’s body and the natural world, and further uniting Chakravarthi’s interests in numerology and the sacred geometry of Vedic belief systems, informing and structuring the aesthetics and experience of the works themselves, available as limited edition prints, a digital video triptych and a large-scale billboard poster.
Adelaide Bannerman, Curator.
We Speak In Tongues About The Thing(s) We Love.
We are delighted to announce that the Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library, focused on health, medicine and human experience has acquired a copy of our signed limited-edition folio of George Chakravarthi: AUM (2022).
AUM was a multimedia project that included a billboard poster, a three-channel video triptych, and the signed limited-edition folio, produced during my residency at Bethnal Green Nature Reserve, as part of the artist in residency programme, We Speak in Tongues About the Thing(s) We Love (2020-2022).
In response to the site, I gave form to an embodied philosophy indebted to researching ancestral, esoteric, spiritual and botanical knowledges, which has over several years, coalesced into a new pathway in my visual practice presently committed to painting, culminating with a new exhibition due in 2027.
AUM’s foundational logic was informed by the Trimurti – the Hindu trinity representing the Supreme divinity: Brahma the Creator, Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer. Each cosmic force in total is a metaphor of the life cycle of the Universe and revered in indigenous tree rituals where Brahma’s presence is symbolic of the roots, Vishnu the trunk, and Shiva, the branches. I spoke in detail about the broader trajectory of my spiritual and artistic practice, life experience, and interests to date, with programme curator, Adelaide Bannerman.
To the first 50 people who DM @bethnalgreen_naturereserve with their name and postal address, we will mail the postcard edition, an envelope featuring Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva.
Alternatively, visit the project page to view, hear and read about the works in detail, or place an expression of interest to purchase a copy of the editioned folio, of which editions two and three remain.
Supported by the Arts Council England and the Bethnal Green Nature Reserve Trust.