Renaissance iconography and traditional Indian dance converge when a crimson sari of intense contrast folds and contours around the dancing figure of Bengali artist Bisakha Sarker MBE. Do not yet fold your wings questions, with astute honesty, what it means to be a woman over 70 in contemporary British society. Projected in a raw concrete enclave, sandwiched between two sets of stairs in Liverpool’s historic Bluecoat building, three video projections explore the necessity of living life meaningfully. Sarker’s body, veiled with intensely lit fabric reminiscent of that of 17th Century master painters, is the sole focus in this somewhat elegant display.
Springboarding from the pioneering research of Dr Atul Gawande's 2014 Reith Lectures - a medical standpoint of how to live one’s life without compromise - Sarker set out to dance her own Late Style in this performative installation.
Conceived by The Baring Foundation, Late Style is aimed at establishing a nationwide endeavour to fund artists over 70 to challenge preconceptions of old age and what is expected of the elderly
Springboarding from the pioneering research of Dr Atul Gawande's 2014 Reith Lectures - a medical standpoint of how to live one’s life without compromise - Sarker set out to dance her own Late Style in this performative installation.
Conceived by The Baring Foundation, Late Style is aimed at establishing a nationwide endeavour to fund artists over 70 to challenge preconceptions of old age and what is expected of the elderly
The artists’ dancing body fills the cavernous space while a combination of music by longtime collaborator Chris Davies and spoken words by Sarker herself punctuate the silence. A single video of the artists aging body covers the floor while another is hardly discernible, tucked away at the top recesses of the second floor. It is the largest and most prominent figure of Sarker on the back wall that initially confronts its audience. Here we witness the dancer’s corporeal engagement with the ideology of Dr Gawande. His teachings, for Sarker, reverberated in the words of fellow Bengali, poet Rabindranath Tagore and in particular a poem remembered from childhood: Duhshomoy. A lament on strength in the face of impending death. Do not yet fold your wings is a conscious decision to choose a hopeful outlook on old age as opposed to one of fear. Sarker gently recites the words of Tagore and Gawande as she dances, creating a spiritual, hymn-like resonance.
Christian iconography, and in particular that of the crucifixion, are undeniable as the upward reaching space comes to feel like that of an empty church nave. On multiple occasions Sarker’s outstretched arms become a gesture reminiscent of Christ on the cross. In particular, it is Renaissance imagery, most notably that of the onetime bad boy of 17th century Italian painting – Caravaggio – that prevails. Parallels can be found in the decedent display of the deep folds and curves of the rich red sari’s fabric and in the honest portrayal of the artist’s aging frame. Inspiration of Saint Matthew, 1602, by the Italian master for example was designed as an altarpiece, similar in wall placement and scale as Sarker’s video installation.
Christian iconography, and in particular that of the crucifixion, are undeniable as the upward reaching space comes to feel like that of an empty church nave. On multiple occasions Sarker’s outstretched arms become a gesture reminiscent of Christ on the cross. In particular, it is Renaissance imagery, most notably that of the onetime bad boy of 17th century Italian painting – Caravaggio – that prevails. Parallels can be found in the decedent display of the deep folds and curves of the rich red sari’s fabric and in the honest portrayal of the artist’s aging frame. Inspiration of Saint Matthew, 1602, by the Italian master for example was designed as an altarpiece, similar in wall placement and scale as Sarker’s video installation.
Depicted as an elderly man, the Saint stands uncomfortably atop his stool as his red robes, dramatic in depiction, fall around his elderly physique. Although representing a Saint, Caravaggio does not elevate Matthew from beyond simply being a man. His shocked, weathered face is utterly human as it stares to the angel above. So too is Sarker, donned in her sumptuous red robes, depicted categorically as a woman of her age. It took some effort for the dancer to accept she could still partake in the physicality necessary for this installation. Finally convinced, Sarker confessed the pain and discomfort involved in dancing from the floor was a necessary tradeoff for living her meaningful life, one without compromise. All too often the lines of age and physical reminders of a life lived are wiped clear when representing ones Late Style. Here the artist, just as Caravaggio did four centuries previous, honoured the years it took for such wisdom to be carved.
In Sarker’s floor dancing, projected onto the ground, the artist sits atop a traditional Indian drawing comprised of salt, created by collaborator Ansuman Biswas. On the opening night, Sarker symbolically poured the first grains to the ground as onlookers were invited to throw salt from the five viewing points above. Once the space was filled, Biswas used his body to push the salt to form highly stylised patterns. When viewed from any of the birds eye perspectives of this demanding Bluecoat space, it is as if the projected video of Sarker is shaping these patterns with her own body. When taken in light of the dancer's age, these movements, lines and crevices come to symbolise the lines and ravages of age upon the performer’s body. Often too there are moments when Sarker’s likeness lies totally still on top of the salt. It feels briefly as if we are witnessing a corpse below in some type of peaceful death ritual.
The salt, and Biswas’ overdetermined patterns, brings an unfortunate kitsch elements to this installation. Sarker and her fellow collaborators, with whom there were many, did not need this overembellishment of site. Commissioned specifically for this space, one cannot help but sense a crisis in confidence. The sleekness of the video, Sarker’s enchanting dancing and the sound and words of Gawande and Tagore spoken by the artist, combine occasionally in moments of great meditation. The addition of the salt drawings feel as if Sarker did not have the artistic conviction age often brings.
Notwithstanding, this representation of Bisakha Sarker’s Late Style is an honest and often raw manifestation of a long life’s journey. Quietly, the dancer strives to undermine society’s perpetual expression of old age as a loss on an unimaginable scale.
In Sarker’s floor dancing, projected onto the ground, the artist sits atop a traditional Indian drawing comprised of salt, created by collaborator Ansuman Biswas. On the opening night, Sarker symbolically poured the first grains to the ground as onlookers were invited to throw salt from the five viewing points above. Once the space was filled, Biswas used his body to push the salt to form highly stylised patterns. When viewed from any of the birds eye perspectives of this demanding Bluecoat space, it is as if the projected video of Sarker is shaping these patterns with her own body. When taken in light of the dancer's age, these movements, lines and crevices come to symbolise the lines and ravages of age upon the performer’s body. Often too there are moments when Sarker’s likeness lies totally still on top of the salt. It feels briefly as if we are witnessing a corpse below in some type of peaceful death ritual.
The salt, and Biswas’ overdetermined patterns, brings an unfortunate kitsch elements to this installation. Sarker and her fellow collaborators, with whom there were many, did not need this overembellishment of site. Commissioned specifically for this space, one cannot help but sense a crisis in confidence. The sleekness of the video, Sarker’s enchanting dancing and the sound and words of Gawande and Tagore spoken by the artist, combine occasionally in moments of great meditation. The addition of the salt drawings feel as if Sarker did not have the artistic conviction age often brings.
Notwithstanding, this representation of Bisakha Sarker’s Late Style is an honest and often raw manifestation of a long life’s journey. Quietly, the dancer strives to undermine society’s perpetual expression of old age as a loss on an unimaginable scale.