BIO

Chantal Jumel is a freelance researcher, traveller and writer, specialized in Indian visual and performing art. Author of two books « Voyage dans l’imaginaire Indien, Kolam, dessins éphémères des femmes tamoules » (A journey through graphical India, Kolam, ephemeral drawings by Tamil women) and « Kolam et Kalam, peintures rituelles éphémères de l’Inde du Sud » ( Kolam and kalam, South Indian ephemeral and ritual paintings), Geuthner, Paris, 2013-2010. A graduate of Sorbonne University, she gives lecture demonstrations, organizes workshops in various structures forms and creates ephemeral paintings and murals within the framework of exhibitions and festivals or on a purely individual basis.

Am represented by Apparao Galleries in India.

As a lifelong traveller, I landed in South-India. Kathakali and traditional floor paintings have been part of my journey and I learned how to draw the vibrant kolam designs decorating the thresholds of Tamil houses. The same skilled women who draw every morning are sometimes quietly sitting in their homes and repeatedly writing the syllable OM, a mantra or the name of the divine in tiny booklets. This practice is called Likhita japa. The repetitive writing brings concentration, poise and strength within, hence my symbolic writings created with OM. In my creative work I weave together the spirit of kolam designs, cosmograms, symbolic and ritual designs, deities images inscribed with letters and mantras and spiritual traditions.  Between drawing and writing I use and repeat the syllable Om as a unique script character to create visual poetry.  The repetitive aspect of my work frees my imagination to write about human nature. I have chosen monochrome ink for its qualities of abstraction and silence enabling a contemplative relationship with the world.