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From a woman's viewpoint
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Three teachers give vent to their creativity using paint and brush
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Balancing a home and career hardly leaves any time for most women to indulge in creative pursuits. But not for Anne Samuel, Lakshmipriya Daniel and Razia Tony, teachers at Stella Maris College, who have been able to vent their emotions through "Antara", an exhibition of paintings. A singer herself, Anne's paintings portray movements and rhythm using dance as a vehicle. The dancing figures are stylised and often placed in square grids, each showing a different movement. This idea has been inspired by temple sculptures. Sometimes she also arranges them in a curve simulating a stage. But in general, her concepts are two-dimensional.
Anne loves bright colours and arranges them in interesting combinations in the grids. The base surface has rich textures on which the figures are delineated with black lines. In the paintings with a single figure, the background texture resembles peacock feathers; she has chosen this because the bird also symbolises dance.
Razia's themes focus on women, expressed through varied mediums. Her concepts reveal the dichotomy of suffering and peace, pessimism and optimism, the good and the bad. "Reflection" is a surrealistic image built with a human face, an animal face and architecture, while "Liberation" evokes a lighter feeling. The series on women in different moods can be taken as representative of the different nayikas found in Indian literature. What is sometimes distracting is the use of too many bright colours in a single work.
Philosophic touch
Lakshmipriya sources her ideas from Indian philosophy. Named "Darpana", the right half of her creations have mirrors, which depict momentary movement, that is, the reflection of the viewer. The left half is a mat made of darba grass, considered a purifying reed, used in Hindu rituals. The two halves present contrasting surface textures. On the left, she has painted the 10 incarnations of Vishnu, as animals or symbols signifying each avatar. Arranged in a row, these can also be viewed as evolution from the fish (Matsya avatar) to the superhuman form (Kalki). Her earlier paintings done on large mats, based on the magical number 7 spread on the floor, show colossal faces in bright colours in various angles, the large eyes revealing various emotions. At the base are foot marks representing the "Sapthapadi", part of a Hindu marriage.
INTERPRETING LIFE Some of the works on display
The show is on at Lakshana Art Museum, Judge Jambulingam Street, till September 18, 10 a.m.-7 p.m.
LAKSHMI VENKATRAMAN
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