Decoding the maze of life / Life through a maze of sand
Austrian artist Zenita Komad’s installation is about looking at the broader perspective in life,
writes Nirali Dixit-Hathi
Pic credit: Priti Mistry
Zenita Komad’s work is mysterious, yet the obvious. That’s because through her installation Zenita wants us to reflect on the obvious, which we knowingly ignore.
She believes that our journey in life is in our control. Our life is made up of a complicated series of paths or passages, and it is our choice to either find our way out or get lost. And for this she chooses the labyrinth to help you focus, introspect, reflect on your path.
To explain her concept and views Zenita has set up site-specific installation and drawings for her residency at The Loft in the exhibition titled ‘Eternally, I am your Yes’. For this piece of work she has derived inspiration from stories from Greek Mythology such as the story of King Minos and his hybrid stepson, Minotaur.
At the gallery, sand, water and natural red colour is used to put together a ‘maze’ as we commonly know it. As one walks through the labyrinth to the center and then again walk out, it the steps they take that they tend to mind on. Also, the fact that you walk up to the center and not the dead end is on the mind. The thread of life, here the red colours, is your guide. And to help you see and access every move, she has lowered the level of the labyrinth.
Zenita uses the labyrinth as a device to speak about empowerment, empowerment of your mind. Though labyrinth is better confirmed through mythology, which is all about riddles, puzzles, and mystery, she believes that we need to bridge figures to develop more dimensionality in our way of looking at things. And that is one of the keys of the story she is focusing on through her work. “The wall themselves, the enclosures in their entirety are the thread guiding us,” she says.
Zenita continues, “For the installation I chose sand and water as these materials are powerful. Sand has the power of millions of years. I used three types of sand – fine, medium sand and coarse sand to represent three-dimensional thinking that is capable of building realities. The idea is to just give the individual a better perspective. The walls are on a lower level to allow us to look at the big and broad picture. If you are lost you have to get distance to see clearly. We have to be in the world but not from the world. This is what will happen whenever we will add more dimensions to our consciousness.”
The Labyrinth, a metaphor of course, is a way self-discovery; it is a way of looking at things differently. “We can manage to realise additional dimensions in life. However, it all depends on our point of view. If we step out of our conservative thinking and reception patterns we can be lucky enough to embrace the eternal,” Zenita believes.
In our lives too, while walking through the path, we often lose sight. But Zenita wants every individual to look at the choices life offers, listen to that inner voice and lead to the centre, where the light shines, where truth resides.
Zenita is a multi-faceted artist who works in a variety of mediums, including painting, performance and sculpture. Her residency and this exhibition of her unique and compelling concept is a fantastic opportunity for artists and art lovers to engage in.
(The exhibition is on till February 3 at The Loft, Lower Parel)