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Rishi Sahany’s work is an exquisite combination of observation, imagination, political awareness and sheer skill.
His illustrations show a mastery of the craft of image-making and command over the media he usually works with—watercolour and pencil. His work displays a commendable versatility, and he produces absurd caricatures, realistic studio drawings, minimalist line drawings and elaborate painted landscapes with equal felicity. He has an unerring sense of composition, and his ability to judge when restraint and when to provide intricate detail is admirable.
He can draw with a sharp sense of humour as in Registan Mein Bus but he can also evoke a gentle and reflective mood such as in the book Kumar Gandharva, An Improbable Life.
There is something very grounded in his interpretation of character and place, and yet, he manages to transcend the tediousness of reality with wit and animation. He has an extraordinary ability to imbue his work with meaning and metaphor, so that the reader has plenty of room to interpret the images and add new dimensions through their own thoughts and feelings.
In the wordless and allegorical picture book Sa Re Ga Ma Pakshi, Rishi has created distinct and expressive characters and a sense of movement and action with just a few lines and strokes. The story of a young artist finding her voice can be read at different levels.
Rishi’s images often have a life of their own, running parallel to or in unexpectedly opposite directions from the text. In the book Registan Mein Bus, with poems by Prabhat, one sees images of sundry wild animals sunbathing on a roof in response to a short poem about the sights one sees from a train. A seemingly innocuous poem about fire engines becomes political commentary—the burning building is made of multiple screens depicting angry news debates and footage of war and destruction.
Rishi’s illustrations appeal to both, the child and the adult, because of their humour and sensitivity. His delight in conjuring up images which work on multiple levels is palpable in the energy he infuses into them.
Besides the pictures books he has illustrated, he is a regular and prolific contributor to the bi-monthly magazines Cycle and Pluto. We look forward to more illustrations and picturebooks by Rishi Sahany and to seeing the exciting new directions in which he takes visual storytelling in children’s books.
