Saudade: Encountering the Haunting Presence of Prince Dorovana
Chathuri Nissansala
Lower Gallery, 2024
609.6 x 1676.4 mm,
Plaster of Paris, coconut beads, glass beads, used tea bags, cotton thread, wood, glass, madatiya beads, fungus-grown jackfruit, and stems of the Anthurium flower
Jacques Derrida states that at the dawn of the mechanical age, the existence of queerness can be witnessed as a haunting presence—neither living or dead, present or absent, and not belonging to any form of ontological discourse. This absence permits a viewer to encounter a strange presence that occupies a sense of nostalgia, a longing that represents an event or encounter in the idyllic construct of an utopia.
Is this what is called a fantasy, re-imagination, or mirages of silhouettes encountered in this dreamscape? An ensemble of elements layers in the form of a mapping, creating a tale of presence which is absent: fragments of its degeneration, loss or death, nostalgic longing for an encounter, a presence which has been a lost yearning to return back to that tangible essence of “love that remains, Saudade.”
This dreamscape continues timelessly, an itinerary of a haunting ephemera gradually succumbing to the tamed wilderness of creepers and canopies. Centaurs, Nagas, fauns, and leopards run across the terrains of pineapple fields under the starry night and windy breeze. These mutants' restlessness scorches the buried treasure of Prince Dorovana, guarded by the spirit of a dead monk.
Witness the tiny creepers jutting out from the striants of the structures, gradually devouring them from the canopies. At last, we encounter the mutant being succumbed to the wilderness by the overgrown creepers, flora, and fauna. Once again, the spirits roam freely with the Nagas, centaurs, and the leopards amidst its chaos.