A temple on a boat

Every year on Kartik Purnima, people in Odisha float tiny boats of banana bark, paper and cork. The festival is Boita Bandana. It remembers the sailors who once took their boats across the sea to Bali, Java and Sumatra. Sourav Mohanty lives in Delhi now, but his sculptures keep sailing home.

Before we sail: a few words for the journey

Odra. An old name for Odisha. It is also the name of Sourav’s series. “Everyone knows Kalinga and Utkal. But very few people know Odra.”

Boita. The big sailing boat of old Odisha. Traders called Sadhabas sailed it to Bali, Java and Sumatra.

Boita Bandana. The festival on Kartik Purnima when families float small boats on rivers and the sea, to remember that voyage.

Wire. Sourav’s material. Mostly aluminium, with some copper. It gives him line, rhythm, movement and gaps.

Odia letters. The script of Odisha. He cuts them into the leaves of Odra II.

Jamia. Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, where he did his BFA and is now in the first year of an MFA in sculpture.

Stop one: Odra I

In Odra I a small copper boat carries the Konark Sun Temple, the spirit of Odisha out at sea. Copper leaves rise at its side. This sculpture, Sourav says, tells the story of Odisha.

Stop two: Odra II

Odra II is a tree that is two trees. Its trunk is a coconut palm, sturdy and woven. Its leaves are the wide leaves of a banana plant, cut from metal. Odia letters are part of it too.

And it moves. The leaves turn and swing. Sourav calls it a tribute to the rhythm of life in Odisha, where nature and culture cannot be pulled apart. The movement, he says, is the flow of time and tradition.

“Working with wire has taught me that the material has its own movement, flexibility and character.”

Why should a sculpture stand still? In Odra II a breath of wind or a fan sets the leaves moving. The movement pulls you closer. He wants you to walk up to it on your own.

Stop three: Odra III

The boat comes back in Odra III, also inspired by Boita Bandana. Its hull is copper sheet, folded to a sharp point at each end. Inside sits a round core of woven aluminium. The wire, he says, holds strength and memory. The copper gives structure and warmth.

“Negative space can communicate as strongly as the physical form itself.”

Home port: still moving

“Heritage is not simply a record of the past. It is a living source of knowledge, memory and identity.”

Next, Sourav hopes to work with craftspeople and traditional artists. He wants to research, show and keep experimenting. He hopes his work will send other young artists back to their own roots. Heritage, he says, is not fixed in the past. It is still moving.

Sourav Mohanty
Instagram @brilliantbrushesbysourav

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