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Jingle all the way: Meet the Indian whose art is on South Africa’s 5-rand coin

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It all began with an email inviting Sujay Sanan to a confidential briefing on new currency.

PREMIUM
‘It is definitely a life goal to leave a mark behind as an artist. I feel privileged to be able to do it in this way,’ says Sanan, 39. (Oliver K)

He assumed there had been some kind of mistake; or worse, he thought, it might be a scam. But the message was signed by an official from South African Mint, a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, so he replied.

After a string of follow-ups in late 2019, he found himself in the lobby of a luxury hotel in Cape Town. He was guided to a boardroom, directed to his seat. On the table before him was a folder labelled “Top Secret”.

“I felt like a secret agent,” says Sanan, 39, smiling. It turned out that SA Mint had contracted an agency to compile a list of artists whose work had represented, in a significant way, the country’s natural history and conservation efforts. The Cape Town-based Indian artist has spent a decade engaging with nature and wildlife through his art, in mediums ranging from acrylic ink to watercolours, graphite and 3D artworks, so it’s no surprise that he was on the list.

The project itself, when he realised its scale, took his breath away. “An invitation like this usually means that your work might feature on a commemorative coin or a collector’s edition of some sort,” he says. “Little did I know that this was an opportunity to have my work engraved on lakhs of circulation coins.”

The 5-rand coin. (Oliver K)
The 5-rand coin. (Oliver K)

Sanan’s drawing of a southern right whale and her calf was recently selected as the art for South Africa’s new 5-rand coin (replacing the wildebeest). The competition was open to all South African citizens and residents. Sanan is the latter. “Currency forms a strong part of a country’s visual language, so it is an honour to be part of history like this,” he says.

The southern right whale is an endangered species that inhabits oceans south of the Equator. Every year, this country’s southern coast, from Cape Town to Mossel Bay, serves as a sanctuary for newborn calves and their mothers, who typically spend six months there, from June to December, before moving north into cold waters, and returning in June.

Sanan’s drawing on the 5-rand coin depicts this calving phase, itself a major conservation success. Amid extensive whaling — it’s called the right whale because it was considered the “right” whale to hunt, since it yielded huge amounts of oil and baleen — the species saw numbers dip as low as 300 in 1920, before global protection laws were passed in 1935. These whales are still endangered, but their population now stands at an estimated 10,000, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

“Hopefully, more of the world will see this as a sign to conserve more of the planet’s natural heritage,” Sanan says. “It is definitely a life goal to leave a mark behind as an artist. I feel privileged to be able to do it in this way, and to be accepted as part of a country I love so much.”

***

It’s been a long migration for Sanan, in many ways. He was born in a small village outside Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh, and spent most of his youth in the picturesque, apple-growing districts of Spiti and Kinnaur.

He graduated from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, in 2006; met his partner Sophia Olivia Sanan, a cultural policy consultant from South Africa, in Delhi, in 2012. They planned a trip to SA together soon after. “Love,” he says. “I moved here because I fell in love and I’m still in love.” They now have a five-year-old son Cedrus (named after the deodar trees around which the artist grew up).

The topography of Cape Town — tablelands, flatlands, coastal land and bay areas — as well as its flora and fauna, had a profound impact on Sanan’s art. Living next to the Table Mountain National Park, he has access to some of the last remaining Afromontane forests in the region. The Cape Floristic Region near the southern tip of South Africa is the world’s smallest biome (or biogeographical unit), with a staggering diversity of plants and a large proportion of these endemic, found nowhere else on earth.

Inks and prints on paper by him titled Cape Fox Rocklands Pass; Succulent Tortoise conophytum; and Cape Fur Seal, Kalk Bay Harbour. (Images courtesy Sujay Sanan)
Inks and prints on paper by him titled Cape Fox Rocklands Pass; Succulent Tortoise conophytum; and Cape Fur Seal, Kalk Bay Harbour. (Images courtesy Sujay Sanan)

“The ocean is this enigmatic space that connects our coastlines with those of Antarctica. I dream of the massive mammals that inhabit the cold dark waters, how they are connected to currents and upwellings. We are so tiny in comparison. The sense of scale is so dramatic. One can open one’s eyes and still find oneself in a dream,” Sanan says.

Since 2014, Sanan has built a vibrant art practice there. In a sense, he has never lived far from the wilderness, he says, and so nature is a driving force in his work. “I don’t see myself as separate from nature. In animals and plants, in fact, I see the values of interdependence and symbiosis that I value in human relationships as well.”

His artworks have found their way into private collections in eight countries. He has been part of fundraising auctions held by NGOs such as WWF and Wavescape. His next show, he says, will reflect his engagement with Indian wildlife and ancient artistic traditions.

Is his art, then, also a form of activism? “What you see is my love for life as it exists and has evolved on earth,” Sanan says. If there is a mission, it is “to connect people with the wonders of the living planet”.

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It all began with an email inviting Sujay Sanan to a confidential briefing on new currency.

‘It is definitely a life goal to leave a mark behind as an artist. I feel privileged to be able to do it in this way,’ says Sanan, 39. (Oliver K) PREMIUM
‘It is definitely a life goal to leave a mark behind as an artist. I feel privileged to be able to do it in this way,’ says Sanan, 39. (Oliver K)

He assumed there had been some kind of mistake; or worse, he thought, it might be a scam. But the message was signed by an official from South African Mint, a subsidiary of the South African Reserve Bank, so he replied.

After a string of follow-ups in late 2019, he found himself in the lobby of a luxury hotel in Cape Town. He was guided to a boardroom, directed to his seat. On the table before him was a folder labelled “Top Secret”.

“I felt like a secret agent,” says Sanan, 39, smiling. It turned out that SA Mint had contracted an agency to compile a list of artists whose work had represented, in a significant way, the country’s natural history and conservation efforts. The Cape Town-based Indian artist has spent a decade engaging with nature and wildlife through his art, in mediums ranging from acrylic ink to watercolours, graphite and 3D artworks, so it’s no surprise that he was on the list.

The project itself, when he realised its scale, took his breath away. “An invitation like this usually means that your work might feature on a commemorative coin or a collector’s edition of some sort,” he says. “Little did I know that this was an opportunity to have my work engraved on lakhs of circulation coins.”

The 5-rand coin. (Oliver K)
The 5-rand coin. (Oliver K)

Sanan’s drawing of a southern right whale and her calf was recently selected as the art for South Africa’s new 5-rand coin (replacing the wildebeest). The competition was open to all South African citizens and residents. Sanan is the latter. “Currency forms a strong part of a country’s visual language, so it is an honour to be part of history like this,” he says.

The southern right whale is an endangered species that inhabits oceans south of the Equator. Every year, this country’s southern coast, from Cape Town to Mossel Bay, serves as a sanctuary for newborn calves and their mothers, who typically spend six months there, from June to December, before moving north into cold waters, and returning in June.

Sanan’s drawing on the 5-rand coin depicts this calving phase, itself a major conservation success. Amid extensive whaling — it’s called the right whale because it was considered the “right” whale to hunt, since it yielded huge amounts of oil and baleen — the species saw numbers dip as low as 300 in 1920, before global protection laws were passed in 1935. These whales are still endangered, but their population now stands at an estimated 10,000, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

“Hopefully, more of the world will see this as a sign to conserve more of the planet’s natural heritage,” Sanan says. “It is definitely a life goal to leave a mark behind as an artist. I feel privileged to be able to do it in this way, and to be accepted as part of a country I love so much.”

***

It’s been a long migration for Sanan, in many ways. He was born in a small village outside Mashobra in Himachal Pradesh, and spent most of his youth in the picturesque, apple-growing districts of Spiti and Kinnaur.

He graduated from the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad, in 2006; met his partner Sophia Olivia Sanan, a cultural policy consultant from South Africa, in Delhi, in 2012. They planned a trip to SA together soon after. “Love,” he says. “I moved here because I fell in love and I’m still in love.” They now have a five-year-old son Cedrus (named after the deodar trees around which the artist grew up).

The topography of Cape Town — tablelands, flatlands, coastal land and bay areas — as well as its flora and fauna, had a profound impact on Sanan’s art. Living next to the Table Mountain National Park, he has access to some of the last remaining Afromontane forests in the region. The Cape Floristic Region near the southern tip of South Africa is the world’s smallest biome (or biogeographical unit), with a staggering diversity of plants and a large proportion of these endemic, found nowhere else on earth.

Inks and prints on paper by him titled Cape Fox Rocklands Pass; Succulent Tortoise conophytum; and Cape Fur Seal, Kalk Bay Harbour. (Images courtesy Sujay Sanan)
Inks and prints on paper by him titled Cape Fox Rocklands Pass; Succulent Tortoise conophytum; and Cape Fur Seal, Kalk Bay Harbour. (Images courtesy Sujay Sanan)

“The ocean is this enigmatic space that connects our coastlines with those of Antarctica. I dream of the massive mammals that inhabit the cold dark waters, how they are connected to currents and upwellings. We are so tiny in comparison. The sense of scale is so dramatic. One can open one’s eyes and still find oneself in a dream,” Sanan says.

Since 2014, Sanan has built a vibrant art practice there. In a sense, he has never lived far from the wilderness, he says, and so nature is a driving force in his work. “I don’t see myself as separate from nature. In animals and plants, in fact, I see the values of interdependence and symbiosis that I value in human relationships as well.”

His artworks have found their way into private collections in eight countries. He has been part of fundraising auctions held by NGOs such as WWF and Wavescape. His next show, he says, will reflect his engagement with Indian wildlife and ancient artistic traditions.

Is his art, then, also a form of activism? “What you see is my love for life as it exists and has evolved on earth,” Sanan says. If there is a mission, it is “to connect people with the wonders of the living planet”.

Enjoy unlimited digital access with HT Premium

Subscribe Now to continue reading

freemium

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