B. Karuna: First Letter

B. Karuna is an artist of the south, living, teaching, and working in Hyderabad. I became aware of her work after my visit to Baroda last October. Unfortunately, she was not there for me to meet, but through word of mouth she heard of my print collection a short time after. She took the time to contact me, and the portfolio of woodcuts she sent via email caught my eye.

In our online correspondence I asked Karuna to give a little background information to the work above. What she replied is placed below:


This work was done when I was studying museum studies in Vadodara. In fact I went to Baroda to study printmaking. I was doing printmaking in hostel. The only option of medium was woodcut. I learnt and collected wood panel from my friend Preeti Agrawal. I can say that she was my teacher for wood cut medium of printmaking.

This work is about my friend Tapati Sinha from Tripura. She used to stay in the same hostel. She was very close to me. In fact there was a group of students formed who came to pursue fine arts and just to mere stay back and be in Baroda as artist, who could easily get admission into various other department in fine arts faculty, Baroda. Tapati and I belonged to that group of students.

Tapati was married to Pulak and he was in shipping company. It was like she used to see him only after one year or sometimes two. There was a constant letter writing happening among them. Incidentally, I was undergoing the same phase of life and love but not married. Tapati used to wait for the letter from Pulak. In these modern days of communication Tapati liked getting a letter in his handwriting than any other source of communication.

To my surprise one day I saw four letters underneath her pillow and a dark t-shirt of her husband. She never used to wash that t-shirt as she was telling it give her husband’s presence. One day I saw her reading a letter from Pulak. It is how I started First Letter.

In my work I connect myself to other life and bring out the feelings in me through their portraiture. This may be because I come from an orthodox family of south India. I tried to see her expressions and record the phase which I was undergoing in my life.

Thanks to Preeti and Tapati.

Aside from the narrative content in this work, I found the domestic imagery of the scene compelling in its realism. Everything seen speaks of a modest Indian home: from the decorative grill on the window to the electrical outlet on the wall. A crow perches upon the weathered wooden chair, and what appears to be a plastic bag dangles from what might be a mirror. The accouterments of an artist (brushes, paint tubes, books) can also be seen. One book on the table behind lies open, displaying what are probably snapshots...of Pulak?

B. Karuna constructs a moving fragment from a narrative, adding just the right details to make us understand a certain young woman's reality. Yet the image speaks not only for "Tapati"...it speaks for so many others as well.