Yolanda de Sousa Kammermeier
In
Yolanda's visual work, two images recur vice-versa. One set of her works shows
the visage of a strange person, with a Cyclopic eye, in close-up frontal view.
The face spans the entire vertical and horizontal space. The face is shattered,
broken into pieces, but consolidated as in a jigsaw puzzle. His large eye
apparently does not convey any particular message, but if the spectator looks
at it for a few moments, the stare is harrowing. Though painted in many colours,
only one colour dominates the palette.
The other set shows a loner, a man in his deeply private moment. The open
space around this man is filled with a strange eloquent silence. He often
carries a guitar and a pet dog follows him. In these paintings we find
a book with the queer title "Who am I?" This title suggests
a soliloquy within. The viewer sees his own persona in these paintings.
Though the dog cannot speak, he can share human emotions. The strings
of the guitar await human touch and can express the intents of the self
within. Man, in his journey from birth to death, is a loner. During his
lifetime, he experiences a number of shocks, and has to adjust himself
with the realities around. Human existence is therefore woven with conflicts
between the self and the persona. Yolanda as a sensitive artist touches
this human chord within when she ventures into the twilight zone of this
conflict. The two sets of work complement each other by creating an ambience
of self-actualization. She makes us conscious about the fact that as human
beings we are bounded by certain limitations that are inviolable and insurmountable.
As an artist, Yolanda delves deep into the questioning mind and paints
the sense of isolation felt by the individual. In her paintings, she objectifies
the thinking mind in a unique manner.
-Dr Sovon Som.
April 17, 2009.
