AKBARNAMA-1
Akbar instructing the “Mahabharatha” translators.
The idea of “space” in Indian and Persian Miniatures, especially in Mughal miniatures is not something that ‘contain’ the subject, (characters, narrative, architecture, etc) but a sponge-like being that grows around them which sometimes shrinks, extents, reverses the idea of foreshortening in a European perspective, flatten into mere decorative patterns and sometimes empties itself into a void. It never deepens the space by ‘vanishing’ into a point (or multiple points), instead, it deepens by immense detailing even in an insignificant narrative element, as in digital medium- every pixel counts. I was equally fascinated with this aesthetical aspect of miniature painting and the protagonist of this work – emperor Akbar. I couldn’t help myself from making miniatures and it was not the desire to replicate or re interpret, but to repeat the ‘unrepeatable’ charm of miniature painting.
Akbarnama-1, Akbar instructing the “Mahabharatha” translators, 2020
Detail
Detail
Detail
