The tree series

A K Sivadas, who hails from a family of traditional artisans from the thachan or woodworker community in Kerala, started his career as an artist fairly late, coming to it after many attempts to comprehend and respond to the inequality he found around him. Sivadas's wood sculptures, shown here, were photographed in Wayanad, Kerala.

I am a person who thinks that life is cruel; yet if we recognise this, we can attain a certain calm. I have never felt that because there is oppression and other problems, one has to be sentimental and without hope – I believe that there is still hope, and this is what gives me strength to do art. Indeed, art gives you that strength. I came to art from the many crises that I had to face as a young man. A crisis is not simply a matter of content, it also asks for new forms – and this is what I am trying to make, whatever be the problems.

Well-known traditional sculptors in my family created icons of savarna gods. Their work made them complicit with Brahminism, even though their interests were often in conflict with it. Further, the structure of their beliefs rendered many enquiries outside the religious system unnecessary. As a sculptor, I work mostly in wood. It is a sad thing that you have to cut down trees to do this, but I cannot be sentimental about it – this is what I have to do. It is a tribute to those trees that I named my sculptures the 'tree' series, but these works also deal with things very close to my heart – since I too am a part of nature.

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Himal Southasian
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