Art Portfolio
“Time passes. Memories fade. Feelings change. People leave. But hearts never forget…” ~ anonymous
Unfazed Memories
Shadows of Leaves
Blooming Under Water...
Through the Grove
Dancing In The Autumn Glow...
I wanted to challenge myself to try and think differently about leaves. I felt that whenever it comes to leaves, I always express it through drawings and paintings but never in a different way. Hence, I decided to collect a bunch of leaves over the fall and let them dry for a very long time. I decided to try and create an installation with these leaves. Initially, I was going to capture how leaves fall, however, I felt that that was too common. Hence, I decided to trust my process by seeing what image I form when I see the formation of the leaves and how they dried into which movement, rhythm, does it create harmony? Is it too rough?
Peacock Golden Hour ||
Peacock Golden Hour |
Warmth of Fall
These Special hands..
As I go through various stages of my day, I feel a certain boredom and frustration appear across me. I was walking across this river, and I saw this lonely little black duck just standing there amongst its unfamiliar crowd. As I look around me, all these people who are cycling across these paths, one after the other, the time is ticking, they gotta get there fast. Just like these unfamiliar ducks calling, I hear sweet voices and rough voices just chatting away.
Alongside this situation, I stand there reflecting on my day to day routine. I thought about it, my day simply goes, wake up early in the morning which actually is my favourite part of my day. But then it goes, get ready, make lunch, go to school, listen to those long long lectures, come back, make dinner, and then study and go to sleep.
I remember that one day, I broke down, and called my parents and said,
“I am so bored of my routine and always just simply making art. I feel that my art is just for me, not serving a purpose, I am so bored…”
“Don’t worry, its just the starting part of your independent journey, just wait and watch, don’t give up…” they say,
Just like this lonely black duck with its ongoing of its fluttering wings wondering where it should go. I was trying to find my pathway amongst this glistening water. My day represents these small currents just moving to its sides. I was confused, upset, and wanted to cry. But then, something happened.
As soon as I looked to the right, a man was approaching this black duck, he gave it some food but not to others. I was wondering, “huh?”. All over the sudden these beautiful group of pigeons came fluttering and the ducks came to fight with this duck to try and get that food.
Then this man saw me looking and asked me “did you get lost?”. I look at him with wide eyes. Funny thing is, I look down at my phone, I see emails after emails, messages after messages about new opportunities, new moments, new ideas. As I look in front of me, I feel the sun and its warmth lingering on my side of my face. It may be feeling too warm, but the leaves of this big tree above me provide me the comfort and protection as all this noise in my head fades away slowly into music.
I look up, I felt like a certain feeling of comfort that I was being held in these special hands. As I close my eyes, I smell a group of tulips just growing and brightening this confusing day.
I look at the man and smiled, “No I am not…”
Puddles of Chaos
Summer Strings
Serenity
Blocked Moments
Blurry Pathway into the Unknown
Twirling in the Sunset
As I start 2nd Year, there were challenges in trying to find ideas or themes that I find inspiring or intriguing that would spark my imagination to create something. Therefore, I decided to trust the flow and process. In other words, during the summer, I was learning the process of how to find the beauty or imagery in the common things as I struggle with critically and creatively observing the world around me. At the start, it was frustrating as I was not able to let go or be critical of the surrounding objects. But as I went along, I was now able to gradually understand how just finding that one small thing in a random common object can create an image in my head leading to learning how to create ideas.
My Voice
Together We Share...
Gehene
After doing the cardboard figures, I wanted to expand on this and try see if I could make Indian tribal jewelry. Indian tribal areas explore earthy ideals and spiritual beliefs of the wearer. These jewelry are made to bring a glimpse into the socio-cultural traditions of a group. They each have their own identity and became one of the most priceless part of familial treasures since the Indus Valley Civilisation. Each of these jewelry often include materials from natural environment such as leaves, fruits, feathers, leather, claws and other natural elements. I found this intriguing in terms of how people at the time or even during extreme poverty relied on availability of resources from around them to create such priceless jewelry. I decided to try and experiment with cardboard clay and create various shapes of jewelry that I describe as traditional and tribal.
Farmers
Beauty of the Villages
Beauty of the Villages 17th June 2023Acrylic on Paper29.5 cm x 42 cmTo continue to explore Indian art, I decided to explore how art can be viewed simply by symbols and generalized figures. Warli painting is made in a place where I was raised in, Maharashtra in India. The context of Warli tribe lies in Mother nature and the way of life in wildlife and social events. It is normally painted using white paint on the walls of Village huts that are made of red ochre branches and red brick. I was fascinated by how the simplest basic geometric shapes can express elements of nature in the most joyous way. This inspired me to try and recreate the stories of Indian rural areas that I hear both from stories from my mom and from other sources.
To continue to explore Indian art, I decided to explore how art can be viewed simply by symbols and generalized figures. Warli painting is made in a place where I was raised in, Maharashtra in India. The context of Warli tribe lies in Mother nature and the way of life in wildlife and social events. It is normally painted using white paint on the walls of Village huts that are made of red ochre branches and red brick. I was fascinated by how the simplest basic geometric shapes can express elements of nature in the most joyous way. This inspired me to try and recreate the stories of Indian rural areas that I hear both from stories from my mom and from other sources.
Matratavta (Motherhood)
Matratavta 10th June 2023Watercolor on Paper29.5 cm x 21 cm
I found Bhil painting from Rajasthan to be interesting as it incorporates using dots of bright colors on top of a base of dark colors to create odd looking shapes of subjects typically from nature. These patterns are often representative of the artist’s imagination, therefore, it is unique to the artist. What makes Indian art fascinating is that it does not use acrylic or oil paint, instead it uses neem sticks and twigs with natural dyes such as turmeric, flour, vegetable ink to create bright colors that would be painted on floors and walls in the villages. I found the technique fascinating as it brings me the idea of pointillism and impressionism where we capture the intriguing elements of nature using dots in the images. Therefore, I decided to try experiment with Bhil style art. I used watercolor and acrylic paint on top of elephant paper to get a feel of painting on natural handmade paper. I chose to put a cow with its calf to represent the idea of motherhood and how cows are considered holy in India. I wanted to explore the beauty of motherhood and cows and the culture of India at the same time.
Mahajanapadas
Mahajanapadas 12th June 2023Watercolor on Paper29.7 cm x 42 cm
As part of my research, I came across a form of art that I was fascinated by which was Madhubani paintings. This form of art was originated in Bihar of India where it uses a variety of mediums such as fingerprint, twigs, brushes, nib-pens, and matchstick. Additionally, what makes it eye-catching is its geometrical patterns depicting people and their connections with nature and ancient mythology. What makes it unique is that in these paintings, there are no negative space and is always filled with flowers, animals, and various designs. As an artist who loves to doodle and create Indian designs, i wanted to try and create my own Madhubani painting. It was challenging as this is a freestyle painting where we draw freely without any guides or photos to help us as well as we have to rely on our guts to guide us to create a fuller image. However, this process has made me learn the value of patience in creating work as well as the importance of expansion of learning about a specific culture or context, in this case learning about various perspectives and cultural preferences of Indian Tribal Art.
The Colors of Rajasthan
"Khush!" (Happy!)
Bloom Through Life
Free Spirit!
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Free Spirit! 25th Jan 2023 Acrylic on Board 100 cm x 70 cm A self portrait expressing who the artist is as a person. As a deaf artist, Prisha wanted to express how despite the challenges she has faced, she has gone through it with determination and hard work. She states that "No matter what I go through, I always go through it with free spirits and positivity as my mantra has always been 'I can do this, and no matter what, I am strong and I can do anything a person can do!'". She wanted to divert from doing realism and try do blotches of colors to create a lively and happy experience. A challenge she faced doing this project would be to learn how to create a connection between the color tones and show the characteristic of her as a person. However, she felt that this process allowed her to understand the importance of free experience and quick artworks in achieving the learning experience of being creative and experimental. |
Vision-O-Voice
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| Vision-O-Voice 23rd Jan 2023 Acrylic on Canvas 30 cm x 40 cm "Vision-O-Voice" is about the message Prisha wanted to express clearly that “I’m Deaf but not Mute”. Her initial intentions was to express this message powerfully so that she can express her inner power and strength to be able to speak out and help the viewers understand that deaf people can do anything they want. However, as she went along the process of creating this work, she started to recognize what the artwork actually means. It was about how she looks at the light and positivity of her life and not focus on the shadows and her struggles as a deaf person. The hands symbolize her looking forward and have the power to look at the positivity and let go of the obstacles. To support this, she decided to use a quote by her role model Helen Keller which stated that “Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow”. She has learned a lot from the process specifically about how to be creative and curious and play around with techniques and overlaying images to express a theme impactfully. |
Shine A Light Into My Ear...
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Shine A Light Into My Ear... 18th Jan 2023 Mixed Media Sculpture 30 cm x 30 cm x 30 cm The artist intended to create a sculpture of an ear anatomy. From her daily routine, she noticed how nature plays a role in who we are as we are animals. In this case, deafness is biological, nature chose that she would be deaf. Hence, she decided to dig deeper into my fascination of nature. She had seen how the fragile and delicate dead leaves were falling. The leaves could be used to portray the hair follicles as deafness correlates with dead hair cells in the cochlea of the ear. She uses wire to create hair follicles that are alive leading to her ability to hear with the help of hearing aids which are expressed in colorful leaves while the physiotherapy sheets are formed into dead leaves. She uses light to add more visual texture into her work, creating more hair cell textures in the cochlea. It helped bring the project alive. This sculpture had taken her on a journey of experimenting and failed attempts. It has allowed her to understand the implications of her decisions and actions. She has enjoyed the learning process of this as it guided her from using recycled or bad objects that she found around her into creating a piece of art. She learned how to think creatively and be curious about the structure and form of the objects. She could have just made a sculpture out of wood or clay but she wanted to come out of my comfort zone and experiment with objects that she have never used before. |
Selflessness
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Selflessness 11 January 2023 White Pastel and Paint on Card 33 cm x 25 cm Selflessness is based on the artist's fascinations of unseen scars. In other words, in her experience as a deaf person, she has unseen scars that people do not know about that has shaped who she is today. So she thought that she could explore how other people's unseen scars affect them even today and and try to raise awareness about empathy and acceptance within the society. A friend of hers suffered from depression and anxiety. She is also very selfless and always doing things for other people. Hence the artist decided to challenge herself to show that characteristic of selflessness in her friend's portrait. She was inspired by nature and how it has defined ourselves as there are features created by nature. She looked up what are some nature elements that represent depression or isolation or selflessness. There was a picture of hands holding a rose delicately in black and white and incorporated it with her friend's portrait. This has given her the idea of how it has compositionally worked well along with how it reveals her friend's inner scars/ character. |
When I close my eyes, I am not afraid...
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| When I Close My Eyes, I Am Not Afraid... 10th Jan 2023 Acrylic and Soft Pastel on Canvas 40 cm x 50 cm This artwork was inspired by one of Prisha's old songs she wrote from when she was younger. She felt nostalgic when she sang the song and she wanted to express that feeling in her work. It was a challenging project but it allowed her to be creative with the ideas that come up when she sang the song. It was a first experience in trying to create an artwork purely from a song lyric but it gave her a new perspective in how to create art by being curious about her surroundings. |
Old Woman Praying
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| Old Woman Praying... 11th Dec 2022 Pencil on Paper 21 cm x 30 cm One of Prisha's favourite style of work is hyperrealism. It was a time consuming project but it allowed her to practice the importance of patience and consistency in creating art. She worked on this for approximately a week. |
Unbreakable Bond
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Unbreakable Bond Oct-Nov 2022 Charcoal and Pastel on Cardboard 18.5 cm x 20.5 cm Motherhood is a very important topic that Prisha expresses as it is very connected to her life. Her mother and she have a close bond as they have been through a lot together during her deafness journey. She wanted to show the connection that they have and the support and determination her mom has since she was born. She wanted to experiment with a different type of surface paper and found this brown color cardboard piece from a cereal box. The color gives a warm tone and would convey the closeness between them. She never used this type of surface as when she applied pastel on the surface, it does not apply very smoothly. It was challenging and it had left marks or have distorted the proportions of the image. This has given her an idea of what are some disadvantages of materials, not only ready made art materials but also recycled ones, in creating art. This allowed her to gain an idea of ways to express art outside of using materials from the art world. True Colors and Keep Flying
 20th October 2022 Charcoal on Paper 49 cm x 35 cm Through My Ears... |
Dancing My Inner Joy...
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| Dancing My Inner Joy 17th October 2022 Soft Pastel on Paper 49 cm x 35 cm One common thing that Prisha has noticed that motivates her as a Bollywood dancer is how she is fascinated by the art of Indian dance movements. Indian dance is the expression of inner beauty and the divinity within man. The gestures, facial expressions, and emotions seek to communicate the ideas. She felt connected to the meaning of the dance as it helps her to express her inner joy through her facial expressions and gestures. Therefore, as an artist, Prisha wanted to explore the way movements evoke certain emotions within the viewers. |
Infinitive Battle
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| Infinitive Battle 25th September 2022 Charcoal on Paper 30 cm x 21 cm each As Prisha finished her graduation of High School, she had to move out to go to college. This lead to her feeling overwhelmed and having a mental overload. She misses her family and was having anxiety about living independently for the first time. With this happening, she wanted to express her feelings into an artwork. She captures the expressivity of overwhelm and mental overload in the face which eventually spreads awareness about mental control and strength in the second part. She expresses this using the element of movement in art and value tones. |
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