CHENNAI: Vibrant artworks placed between doodles, local pop-culture and urban art laced with ubiquitous Vadivelu dialogues smeared with famous phrases from Tamil movies, and reimagined celebrity quotes (think Kris Jenner saying ‘You are doing amazing da kanna’ and Joey Tribbiani declaring he doesn’t share ‘biriyani’), and quarantine horoscope predictions with several doses of funnies.
Illustrator Suneha SXR has been decking the grids of her Instagram handle with myriad hues, flavourful local content and doodle-documenting her quarantine journey to provide her followers with some artistic relief during such trying times.
A science lover, Suneha landed herself in a fashion designing course and graduated earlier last year. "Not everything works our way. But whatever happens, is for the best. I realised this after I stepped into fashion school. I’ve been innately inclined towards art and aesthetics. I remember sketching characters and dresses when I was just 10 years old. So, me taking up an artistic course was serendipitous but in hindsight, doesn’t seem like a surprise. It was destined to happen," shares the designer, who had plans of launching her fashion label. “It became a very dear dream — to start my brand. But due to the pandemic-induced lockdown, the plans went down the drain,” she shares.
Until a few months back, before art came to her rescue (again), Suneha was reeling under uncertainties about the future. “I used to wake up without a plan. My dreams were on hold. It was quite hard. It was during one such downtime when inspiration struck and I decided to document my day-to-day activities through doodles, sketches and post it on my handle,” shares the illustrator.
A fan of local pop-culture, Suneha started interspersing her artworks with elements of music, entertainment and cinema; popular phrases in the ‘Madras slang’ and whatnots — all weaved in a narrative headlined by her (cartoon version). "I felt what I did should be relatable. I observed that very little attention was being given by the art world to our local entertainment and cultural produce. As a fan of Mani Ratnam, AR Rahman; someone whose entire childhood was punctuated with Vadivelu jokes, the quintessential food of Chennai and everything associated with Madras, I decided to pick up my digital brush and doodle away what meant the world to me," she shares.
Her thought process eventually translated into artworks that were like a colour space on a grayscale. “There seems to be either a cloud of gloom, hate, deceit or several shades of negativity on social media pages now. I want to breathe some colour and joy into the life of anyone who has access to my artwork,” says Suneha.
Leap of faith
Through her artworks, she also hopes to destigmatise the taboos associated with mental health conditions. "I’ve been battling anxiety for some time now. Every time I complete an artwork, I am doubtful whether I should post it or not. I have doubts if it will be appreciated but I always take the leap. It’s been worth it — the appreciation and support I’ve received," she says, adding that she has her share of creative slumps too.
"Staying indoors has been taxing. Some days, it becomes very difficult to come up with fresh concepts and new characters; sometimes I am low on energy, so I just pen down the ideas and give myself some rest. The lockdown has been a trying time for everyone and I am using my page as a platform to be vocal about our mind and its ways...mental health matters," she announces.
The illustrator has been taking up commissioned artworks and is quick to add that she’s tired of being asked to work for free. “Several people ask if I can sketch them for free. Many bargain rates. But it boils down to the fact that being an artist is a career choice and it pays our bills. I wish people were more mindful of it,” she opines.
In a post-corona world, Suneha wants to make merchandise and meaningful memorabilia out of her artworks. "I am a fan of planners...so, I want to incorporate my artworks into utility products. You don’t find any aesthetic planners with Tamil pop-culture. So it’ll be one-of-a-kind," she says. For now, Suneha is busy planning her next art series and taking the lockdown one stroke at a time.
For details, visit Instagram page @suneh.doodles