It began not as illustration, but as listening. Thirty essays — quiet, searching, written by award-winning filmmaker, writer and traveler Ladly Mukhopadhaya — felt like places to enter rather than pictures to make. Each held more feeling than story, more pause than description.
To respond, I had to look away from what was obvious. To sense what breathed beneath the lines. I read slowly. Stopped often. Waited for a phrase to linger, for an image to rise on its own. That first flicker became the seed of each work.
Ink wash felt natural — fluid, unpredictable, alive. It carried emotion without needing to define it, softening the boundary between control and surrender. Brush met water, words slipped into the surface — sometimes clear, sometimes just a whisper.
Words turned into texture. Meaning hovered between what I could see and what I could feel. Thirty-five monochromes and two colored images took shape — quiet, distinct, yet bound by a shared hush. Together, they became a conversation — not spoken, but heard.
When I look back, I feel this journey was less about making images and more about learning to trust what reveals itself when I stop trying to see the obvious.
This publication is available through the publisher’s website at the link below.
Pagoler Songe Jabi – sristisukh পাগলের সঙ্গে যাবি – সৃষ্টিসুখ
