Documenting Theatre: Sridhar Balasubramaniyam’s Chameleon Land
Manalmagudi Theatre Land is a contemporary theatre troupe based out of Kovilpatti, Tamil Nadu. The troupe derives inspiration for its work from the rituals and performances of the region to explore human and non-human relationships with nature. Established over twenty-five years ago by playwright and activist S. Murugaboopathi, the troupe continuously experiments with the theatrical form through text, movements, props, music, visuals and space.
Sridhar Balasubramaniyam is a documentary photographer and theatre practitioner who has been associated with the theatre group for the past nine years. Alongside performing with the group, Balasubramaniyam has also actively documented their work, both behind the scenes and onstage, as a part of his extended photographic practice.
Balasubramaniyam's Chameleon Land is a photo project, supported by the Serendipity Arts Performance Art Documentation Grant 2019-20, that follows Manalmagudi Theatre Land’s entire process as they prepare for and stage the production of Puzhuthimarap Paravaigal. The play tells the story of angels martyred beneath the manmade landslides and floods of hatred that spread war and violence. The production explores the complex metaphoric connections humans share with the idea of land—a narrative fraught with violence—while traversing the path to find hope and healing. Balasubramaniyam’s documentation of the production is an intimate portrait of the entire process, through his images of the rehearsals, design, music creation and making of the play. Over a brief conversation, Balasubramaniyam spoke about how he was influenced by the troupe’s ways of thinking about land and bodies. He also discussed how they focus on incorporating a theatrical language of non-human forms—such as plants and animals, and inanimate objects—such as dolls, masks, sculptures and paintings, to their productions. As we survive through mass extinction and extermination, including the genocides of critters and people alike, such theatre productions provide a means of “staying with the trouble”, as author and philosopher Donna Haraway suggests, to mediate between despair for a world beyond saving and an almost religious belief in the potential of technology that may come to our rescue.
Chameleon Land takes on a life of its own as a documentation of a theatre production that seeks to provide a way of staying with the trouble it evokes. While the production itself relies heavily on bodily presence to produce a certain affect, the stills that Balasubramaniyam makes of the entire process brings forth the labour behind the production. The series grants an after-life to something that is transitory, putting forth ideas central to the inception and formation of creative processes.
All images from Chameleon Land (2022) by Sridhar Balasubramaniyam. Images courtesy of the artist and the Serendipity Arts Festival.
To find out more about projects from the Serendipity Arts Festival, click here, here and here.
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