Master of paper art

TWELVE-YEAR old Shivaram Narayanan treated Chennaiites to a delightful exhibition of Origami. The first child to be invited to hold a solo exhibition at the Lalit Kala Academy in Greams Road, Shivaram had literally plastered the hall with over three hundred paper masterpieces.

All his works were made from a single sheet of paper intricately folded to create fantastic animals, birds, insects, celebrities, aircraft and gods! Truly a god-given talent one thinks when one begins to appreciate the subliminal plane on which Shivaram operates.

Origami dates back to 1000 A.D. when the Japanese pioneered this art, which requires an in-depth understanding of shape and structure. The accomplished practitioners of Origami have always included celebrated sculptors, designers, architects and artists. The practise of Origami is also therapeutic in the sense that it evokes a certain serenity and reduces stress in highly creative individuals.

Every year, dedicated origamists from 14 countries across the world, congregate in New York for the Origamy Convention. And, Shivaram's entries were adjudged as winners in the Child category and are on permanent exhibit there!

In fact, ever since 1997, when he was just nine years old, Shivaram had won this unique distinction.

His crowning glory came this year when he was invited to participate in the New York convention in June as the sole Indian delegate. His parents, Narayanan and Janani, run a neighbourhood newspaper in Goa called Vasco Watch and they are quite unconventional - they let Shivaram study from the warmth of the home (through the National Open School) since they think that modern schools do not offer much to children in terms of creativity. One is forced to think the same after one looks at Shivaram's exhibition and has a chat with the precocious child. Interestingly, he started learning Origami since he was six years old.

Shivaram's international prize-winning exhibits were on display at the exhibition - an Alexandria parrot with a crab, a Stegosaurus and Lord Ganesha.

His family has firm roots in Chennai and cricket followers would remember his late grandfather K. S. S. Mani, the popular commentator.

Shivaram sure did go much beyond the favourite stamping grounds of Chennai's children (cricket fields) to paper treasures of varying hues and sizes, mostly involving more than 100 folds of a single piece of paper!

M. SRINATH NARAYAN

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