Published in Vibrant Keralam Magazine.

She lies on the shores of the Arabian Sea, impervious to the world around, on a shell shaped to conceal her,with her tresses falling like rain and wearing sky like an abandoned cloth, waiting for the busy world to unwind. Kanayi Kunhiraman’s Malsyakanyaka (mermaid), as the creator himself puts it, came in search of an untainted world perturbed by the polluted sea, but all she could find was a world which is even more tainted, hence she lied facing the sun, the only element in this universe which is still pure as fire!

Kanayi, Kerala’s most prolific sculptor, and arguably one of the best in India, stood tall before me as he invited me to his home. The innocence in his smile, the simplicity in his words and the warmth in his approach make you wonder, whetherthis is the same man who created enormous, and often controversial, sculptures like Malampuzha Yakshi (enchantress), Shankumugham Mermaid (Malsyakanyaka) or the Shanghu (conch) at Veli which is the only conch in the world that can beseen from inside.

“An artist’s life is quite limited; I would like to be a human being first. I am a vegetarian, who doesn’t drink or smoke, so I don’t fit under the term‘artist’. Art is not complete; all it becomes is a fragment of wholeness.”

Kanayi Kunhiraman was born into a rich household, where his father was a tyrant who controlled even the emotions of his children. His father married three times and had 12 children. His second marriage saw Kanayi’s mother leaving for her ancestral home. In those times, society followed marumakkathayam, a system of matrilineal inheritance where the property of the male head of a family is inherited by hissisters’ children. Kanayi’s father gave priority to his sister and her children while his own children were ignored. There started the story of a young boy, who became a legend in his trade.

“My father had criminal instincts; he killed a hired assassin on a railway platform where he tried to stab him. Art was his enemy. Drunkards and artists were always kept at a distance. He was stingy as Shylock. I was the eldest of 12 children. When I got frustrated I used to visit my mother at her home but it infuriated my father and I was thrashed whenever I was late.”

The artist in Kanayi was prevalent even during his childhood agony. While working as a field hand in the paddy fields, he created small figurines of lady workers with clay from the fields. Those workers were his first audience and admirers.

“It was then that I realised my art should be taken to society, to the people; it should not be kept indoors,” Kanayi says.

One day his father found vegetables lying on the courtyard underneath intense sunlight. He scolded the household, not realising that those were his son’s creations. The clay vegetables painted in water colours looked so life-like that it deceived even his father’s eyes. Not one word of approval came from his father’s lips. He realised that if he stayed in that house anymore, he would end up just like his father, who had no respect for art or artists and was a violent oppressor of free thinking.

Another incident that happened around the same time altered Kanayi’s life forever. A tailor in Cheruvathoor hired Kanayi to paint a five-and-a-half-foot portrait of Jawaharlal Nehru to support a Congress meeting attended by Nehru himself. The portrait was hung in front of the tailoring shop. While passing through Cheruvathoor in a train, Nehru noticed his life-size portrait and got out of the train to have a better look. Appreciation was evident in his eyes. This incident made Kanayi take art seriously. So, at last, with the encouragement of a few his well-wishers, he left his father’s house to begin his career in art.

At 17, Kanayi became a disciple of the legendary painter KCS Paniker who was then the principal of Government College of Fine Arts, Chennai. Kanayi, who wanted to be a painter like KCS, was destined to become a sculptor, as KCS gave him a place in the sculpture class.

His sculptures soon became popular among students as well as eminent artists. He adopted his father’s family name Kanayi as his own when he started to gain recognition among art lovers.

“Art is the secret of having a healthy mind. If there’s no art, there’s no human being. It is the sole instinct that makes us different from animals. Art is part of our life; it’s not to be sold or for entertainment. When art becomes an industry, it becomes business. That’s what has happened to Cinema, it’s an industry today, not art.”

In 1962, while studying in Govt. College of Arts and Crafts, Madras, he was awarded Government of India Cultural Scholarship to study Sculpture. In 1965, at the age of 28, his application for Commonwealth Scholarship was approved after many tests and interviews. The emerging sculptor from Kuttamathu was to study sculpture at the Slade School of Fine Art, London, under the guidance of world famous sculptor Reginald Butler. Kanayi cherishes his moments spent with Butler.

“Butler enjoyed my works tremendously. Once he took me to his home where I got to meet his wife and children. I was picked up from the station by Butler himself and I was treated like an equal at his home.”

He recounts his meetings with renowned sculptors Henry Moore, Naum Gabo and Barbara Hepworth. He even asked Barbara Hepworth to make him her assistant but her response to him is something he still follows.

“Barbara told me: ‘I don’t want sculptors as my assistants because I am a sculptor myself, all I need is wood carvers and workers.’ That is one of the biggest things I learned from London. I don’t keep even my students as my assistants because tomorrow they might say that Kanayi was just an onlooker to their work of art.”

Henry Moore’s secret of fashioning miniatures before constructing giant sculptures is a little takeaway thatKanayi brought to Kerala. He makes miniature models religiously before launching into a new creation. Kanayi considers his meeting with famous French surrealistic painter Marcel Duchamp and experiencing his artwork a historical milestone.

“What I have realised from these experiences was that like them, I am also my mother’s son. They’re no different than me. I got that self-confidence from England. Had it been in India, I would have fallen victim to many needless ideologies and complexes.”

Kanayi became completely independent after all the experiences he had in England in the 1960s. The hippie movement, with mini-skirts and free-love, was popular in England in those days. He could have stayed in England but something Butler said prompted him to change his mind. Butler said there were too many artists in England for an Indian to flourish but in India they needed an unfailing artist. Kanayi came back with a resolve to reconstruct the Indian art scene. His motherland

Kerala was calling him. It was in Kerala he established his empire; not in Delhi or Bombay.

“When I looked from England to Kerala, I realised that it was empty. There was nothing that could be called art in this state when I returned. It was my duty to bring art to my land.”

The controversial Malampuzha Yakshi came soon after. It was KCS who recommended Kanayi when Jathavedan Nampoothiri, a disciple of KCS, proposed the Yakshi project. Kanayi spent two months wandering through Malampuzha’s valleys and hills to get inspiration for the project and then came up with a miniature model of the Yakshi.

“Nature and sky are naked hence a sculpture representing mother earth should be naked. When I showed Yakshi’s model to the engineers, they were hesitant at first but I convinced them that it will be an abstract.”

Kanayi’s plan was to make a 30-foot sculpture that can be seen from any part of Malampuzha but the estimate was not enough for such a grand project. He signed up as a daily wager instead of a sculptor.

“An artist should come down to society instead of sitting in an ivory tower. He has certain commitments to society. Artists should be treated as first-class citizens, not as thirdclass citizens. They should be able to enjoy high social status, but in India, a sculptor is considered a lower caste (thachan) citizen while a Michelangelo is worshipped abroad.”

Unlike the demons and deities worldwide, Yakshi the enchantress floated alone, lived in a palm tree away from the crowd, bedecked herself with a white sari and Jasmine flowers, and lured fiends to drink their blood. Was she evil? To an onlooker, Kanayi’s Yakshi is a violent representation of a woman, a bloodthirsty siren challenging men not to lust over her. She embodies feminist ideals and is a complete woman.

When I saw Malampuzha Yakshi, Billy Joel’s song came to mind: “She can kill with a smile she can wound with her eyes, she can ruin your faith with her casual lies, and she only reveals what she wants you to see. She hides like a child but she’s always a woman to me.”

Yes, Yakshi is simply a woman. To Kanayi, she is Mother Nature, representing the subdued women of Kerala. Yakshi, which was made 44 years back, triggered huge controversies all over Kerala due to its explicit detailing of a woman’s body. But today it is considered the landmark of Malampuzha.

“Malayalees wear masks before others. They are hypocrites. When there’s no one around, they might even bow before Yakshi that’s the difference. Most idols of gods kept in temples are naked but there’s no issue. So it’s not the object that’s vulgar but the mind. Many told me afterwards that Yakshi or Malsyakanyaka has never aroused any sexual fantasies in them. All Yakshi is trying to convey is that I don’t have any secrets hidden beneath.”

Kanayi and his better half Nalini have been inseparable ever since they married. As he says, after looking out for a bride for years he realised that only a girl from his own soil would understand him. He is a simple man from head to toe and Nalini completes him with her down-to-earth nature. She acts as his manager, homemaker and even as his driver. He says not having children has worked in his favour immensely. “Children are a responsibility, in my kind of work it will be unfair to them if we can’t give them time”.

Kanayi’s women are voluptuous, strong and beautiful and they seem to have a mind of their own. Why are his subjects always woman, one might wonder. “Ever since art was expressed, the theme was always around a woman. Men’s bodies do not have curves; they are cylindrical while women’s bodies are curved and beautiful. The first recognised sculpture is that of a woman: the Venus of Hillendorf, believed to have been made in 24,000 BC. Even the ancient Mohanjadaro sculpture, danseuse, is a woman. So you will never be able to run away from your mother. All I’m trying to do in my art is to glorify women.”

Later on, Kanayi was assigned to transform Veli into a tourist village. Veli became his canvas for years until he transformed it into a work of art. The gigantic conch (shanghu) that lies on water attracts people in large numbers. When wind passes through the shanghu, a sound similar to the blowing of conch is produced. The small Madanthara temple is another attraction of Veli.

“Madanthara was made using a minimalistic art concept. I have never imagined that people will start considering it as a place of worship.” Even after many years of construction, Madanthara is considered a temple and people light lamps and decorate it with flowers.

“A sculpture is three-dimensional. It can be taken and felt with our hands. It demands less imagination than a painting. That is why all religions keep sculptures in their worship place rather than paintings.”

Kanayi’s contributions are not limited to art alone. His commitment to social issues were many times tested and proved. Kanayi has been in the front row to support many social causes, including the recent Vilappilsala waste plant issue.

“The purpose of art is to lead human minds to righteousness. It is also a purification process. Even religions have adapted art as a medium to propagate honesty and goodness. No medium of art, except cinema, has ever made a man criminal. When art becomes a commodity, it loses its fervour. Paintings and sculptures are becoming commodities these days. Many are ready to spend billions on a work of art to keep it as an investment. Art should be a collection not an investment.”

Kanayi’s new projects include Aksharasilpam (a sculpture on language) at Kottayam, Kavyasilpam (a sculpture on poetry) at Thonnakkal and a sculpture based on the endosulfan tragedy in front of the Kasaragod Jilla Panchayat building. His poems and articles are regularly published in popular Malayalam periodicals. His collection of poems is ready to be published later this year and some of them are being translated to Hindi.

“Art is contextual. You cannot make a mermaid in Malampuzha and a Yakshi in Veli, it should integrate with the surrounding. I’ve done portraits of EMS, Pattom Thanupilla, and many others. So an artist should be able to do abstract, natural and academic pieces.”

Kanayi has never made miniature sculptures to sell for millions. He made gigantic treasures that would certainly remain in our hearts forever and hopefully stand the test of time physically. That’s why even after working non-stop for 50 years, all he has gathered is respect and satisfaction. He doesn’t even have a house of his own. One of his aficionados put him up in his house after he left the government quarters where he stayed while working on the Veli project.

“My existence is to create a place for sculpture art in this country. I believe I am almost near my target.”

By the time I finished the interview, this slender and simple man with a sloppy hairstyle has grown much bigger than his 30-foot tall sculptures in my mind. As I bid farewell to him, a kaleidoscopic imagery of Yakshi, Mukkolaperumal and Malsyakanyaka flashed in my mind’s eye just for my keepsake.Yes, we can breathe easy on one thing for sure, with Kanayi Kunhiraman’s majestic creations, Kerala will live forever in the hearts of art lovers.