Commentary by Ron C. Moss, Haiga Editor

Haiga Showcase: Anannya Dasgupta

The first you notice about Anannya’s fine haiga is the attention to detail in her composition and the excellent linking and shifting of her haiku and senryu. With these four haiga you see an expression of colour and movement that is to be savoured, and words that you can dive right into.

With “not every voice,” the still-life capture of the flower (bordering on the abstract) and the very clever juxtaposition of the senryu create a pleasing mix of form and shape. The statement presents itself well.

We can see with “fisherman” some wonderful abstraction in its lines and shapes, and the haiku connects to the image with its own comparisons and associations.

The stunning red of the flower in “outbursts” captures my attention. I’m drawn right away to the text box, which does not disappoint and I see more clearly the well-thought-out elements that link the haiku to the amazing floral display.

We find more flowers with “in a full-throated choir.” I really enjoyed the comparison of the flowers with a singing choir—an interesting shift that makes the voices come alive.

All these haiga are presented well, with a design that both pleases to the eye and makes the text easy to read.

Anannya explains in her own words:

I am fairly new to haiga, drawn to the ways in which it deepens the word-image relationship to convey both experience and the process of thought. Since my chosen medium is the realist photograph that captures descriptive detail, my challenge is always the shift that the haiku must embody not only to expand the arc of experiencing the moment through sensory details, but also to trigger associations and deep memory. I usually begin with the image, almost as a prop to help me see and sense specifically what it offers. I make myself find words that are specific to the experience of that visual. Then I close my eyes, go away from it to see what it reminds me of. There might be a kernel of association that is quite personal to me, in the form of a troubling memory or a detail from a different context, for instance. That the haiku allows two distinct sets of images finds room then in the link to a detail visible in the image, and in the associative link in my mind made concrete through words. I also paint, and my paintings are usually impressionistic and abstract. With painting, my process of creating has been different in that I find an appropriate image to soften the concrete images of a haiku, which I write first, and to find a kind of diffusing light to hold the haiku on the page.

About the Artist

Anannya Dasgupta is a poet, photographer, and artist who lives in Chennai, India. She is finding her feet in haiga and currently exploring it for the opportunity it affords to combine her interest in both art and poetry. Her haiku, haibun and haiga have appeared or are forthcoming in Sonic Boom, Right Hand Pointing, Failed Haiku, Prune Juice Journal, and Daily Haiga. She directs the Centre for Writing and Pedagogy at Krea University.