Micro art can be an extremely difficult medium as it provides a very small space to work on. A Bhubaneswar-based microbiologist has not just excelled in the medium but is also using it to artistically depict the beauty of Odisha.
Susrita Samantaray, a 25-year-old Innovation Associate under National Innovation Foundation (NIF), which is an autonomous body of Department of Science and Technology, has been doing micro art for the last five years and her oeuvre includes monuments of importance in Odisha and scenes of daily life in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack. Her canvas is an A4 notebook, a ballpoint pen is the only tool she uses and social media platforms are the galleries where she exhibits her creativity under the title ‘Susriart’. “I believe in simplifying the communication between art and science. The inspiration for my work is the miracle of life. Susritart was born out of a combination of my education, my passion and hobby, which allows my perspective as an artist to beautify the nature and its surroundings, minutely,” she says.
One of her recent works - Sun Temple at Konark that she drew on an A4 paper using a black pen - was appreciated by many on social media. The artist has since gained attention and now she is challenging herself to going smaller with her micro paintings. Mostly done with lines, she had been trying to finish the work for the last two years. “One cannot replicate Sun temple in its originality through painting. What I have attempted to do is my own version of the architectural marvel through lines and patterns. I have not used any scale or geometry instruments to complete this drawing,” she says. Her other paintings like the Mahanadi Barrage in Cuttack, Khanadagiri-Udaygiri caves in Bhubaneswar, Kalijai temple in Chilika are equally interesting. One of her artworks involving abstract patterns was published and displayed in the Global Bioeconomy Summit-2018 held at Berlin recently.
Her journey as a micro painter began during her college days in 2013 when she was pursuing an engineering degree in biotechnology from KIIT University. During two hours of laboratory session, she used to make drawings at the back of her diary or notebook, she recalls. Susrita says micro art is healing in many ways. “As it involves doing extremely detailed patterns, I see drawing micro patterns as a healing process. Also, miniature art is easy to carry and drawing can be done with variety of pens instead of other painting mediums. However, the process is extremely difficult compared with regular painting, as it needs a huge amount of patience and time. In regular paintings, generally a subject is selected and it is drawn as it is, or colours added accordingly. But, in my case, I only do pen works. I select a subject and add patterns and details to it. And each time, I try to experiment with new patterns and shadings and try not to repeat them,” says the science illustrator. During her MTech course in biotechnology, she used to carry her sketchbooks to college and draw in free periods or break time. Then, during her course, she began doing scientific illustrations on A5 papers (macro art), which involved detailed drawings and patterns. “Although I am no more associated with research works but doing a job, which involves design works.”
One of her interesting series of work is based on ‘Mandala’, a spiritual and ritual symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism. It is a generic term for any diagram, chart or geometric pattern that represents the cosmos metaphysically or symbolically; a microcosm of the universe. She creates them on A3 papers in both black and white and colour. “For a colourful mandala, I take a lot of time because every pattern needs to be unique and the colour combination needs to match the patterns. For black and white mandala, it is comparatively easy as it only requires one single pen to work on. A positive aspect for colourful mandala is that the colour needs to be filled in the patterns but for black and white, you need to work on the details again, which takes me months,” she says.