Wine-drinking
Wine-drinking
For this week’s response I was inspired by the theme of wine-drinking in ghazals, which, on the metaphorical level, signifies that the poet is so very much in love with the beloved that he will commit great sins to prove his love (drinking alcohol is forbidden to Muslims, Introduction to Conventions of the Urdu Ghazal 6/7). Like other prominent themes around the relationship between the poet and the beloved, e.g. the candle flame and the moth or the rose and the nightingale, the theme is universal and virtually understood by everyone. I also felt a certain contrast between the universality of these themes, which, I think, can be understood by most people even without knowing too much about ghazals, and the uneasiness I felt at some point during the readings when one of the authors claimed that there was a “cultural unity – created by the audience’s shared assumptions and expectations” (Ravishing DisUnities 5). Even though I acknowledge that certain themes – like the wine-drinking – can certainly be understood across different nations, ethnicities, traditions et cetera, I still highly doubt that a cultural unity can be claimed for the entirety of the ghazal genre, since different people’s diverse backgrounds make for diverse relationships with each and every individual piece of work as well as the genre as a whole. I admit that I still have not found an adequate way to reconcile this universality with my conviction that cultural unity is something that cannot be claimed for something as spread out and popular as the ghazal.
My artwork represents this dilemma. The picture I worked on was found on the internet and selected mainly because of the spilling wine forming the silhouette of a person. I found it especially appropriate in this context because of the relationship between the wine drinking and the beloved – and the picture captures both in a unique way. In order to express my confusion and doubts as mentioned above, I then made the texture of the picture appear rougher and less unified (by means of making the shadow appear as a conglomerate of different lines). Furthermore, I decided to give the picture less-defined boundaries to enhance the above point even further. Last but not least, I also opted to change he colors to darker and more contrasting shades in order to make it look severe and troubling as opposed to somewhat serene – a sense that I certainly get at the moment when trying to find a balance between the universality of the wine-drinking theme and my uneasiness about the notion of cultural unity introduced by the reading.
Original picture from:
http://www.google.com/imgres?q=wine+drinking&start=80&um=1&hl=en&client=safari&sa=N&rls=en&biw=1083&bih=641&addh=36&tbm=isch&tbnid=N2diIx-sWMETKM:&imgrefurl=http://www.fanpop.com/spots/drinking-to-become-genius/images/7557937/title&docid=anT-ZxszMIW-pM&imgurl=http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7500000/Wine-drinking-to-become-genius-7557937-310-322.jpg&w=310&h=322&ei=-v1wT4PcF4KS0QGj5v2-Bg&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=330&sig=101502248662399075984&page=5&tbnh=148&tbnw=141&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:19,s:80&tx=56&ty=85