Olivia Fraser, Doors of Perception, 2023, stone pigments, gold leaf and Arabic gum on handmade Sanganer paper, 35 x 35 inches/89 x 89 cm
Olivia Fraser (b. 1965, London) is best known for melding the formal traditions of Indian miniature painting with repetitive meditative motifs. When Fraser first arrived in Delhi, she naturally began painting from life, using watercolors to depict the monuments and people around her. “I was like a travel painter depicting the ‘other,’ ” she says. “I began as an outsider wanting to connect to India and soon found a way through learning the visual language of miniature painting as well the physical language of yoga.” These practices offered her an entry point into the culture that spoken language could not, and helped her cultivate a deep sense of belonging. They also led her to investigate a different method of looking. Instead of gazing outward to capture scenes around her, she began honing what she describes as “inner perception.”
Fraser has created a distinct visual language that brings to life intangible spiritual concepts. Her most recent series of intricate, jewel-toned works explore this inward journey. Fraser was inspired by a previously untranslated circa eighteenth-century Sanskrit manual of yoga called the Gheranda Samhita. The text describes in vivid detail an imagined paradise which an enlightened yogi may reach through meditation. One extract describes a sacred landscape: “In every direction are kadamba trees with abundant flowers and it is ringed with a kadamba forest like a stockade, where the scents…of flowers perfume every quarter.” The text from the Gherandha Samhita then continues, mentioning all the senses: the scent of flowers (smell), the fruit trees (taste), bees buzzing and cuckoos calling (sound), all visualized (sight) by the yogi “steadying himself” (touch). The text has guided Fraser’s journey, both visually and artistically, echoing her meditation practice. All of the paintings in this exhibition relate in some way to this text. Temple II, 2022 for example, depicts trees laden with ripe mangoes—the mango tree associated with the sacred and wish-fulfillment in India.
Venue: Sundaram Tagore Gallery, 5 Lock Road 01-05, Gillman Barracks, Singapore 108933
When: 10 May - 7 Sep 2024,
By: Sundaram Tagore Gallery Singapore
