CHENNAI: Reds, browns, blues, greens and beiges jump off the stark white walls of Appario Galleries, Nungambakkam, and take the shape of faces, figures and abstract bursts. Paintings by Boston-based artist Preetha Mahadevan displayed in the exhibition hosted by The Banyan have an interesting backstory, one of healing and inspiration rather than purely aesthetic.
Of her works, 60 find a home in a coffee table book called A Brush with Madness that was launched by Member of Parliament Kanimozhi Karunanidhi, in the presence of US consul general Judith Ravin, Andrew Willford, anthropologist, Cornell University, Srimathi Shivshankar, vice president, HCL technologies, and Vandana Gopikumar, co-founder, The Banyan, on Sunday.
An expression of the self
About four years ago, Preetha was diagnosed with a mental health disturbance (eventually recognised as bipolar disorder) and it was her journey toward healing that found a home in the colours on a canvas. “I also was struggling with an eating disorder and at some point, I went to therapy at a place that had an art therapy room. Whenever we got an opportunity, a bunch of us would start painting in there. I was allergic to paint but struggled through it because I simply could not let go of the joy. When they used one of my paintings for a calendar, it was an “aha” moment. It became the first step of motivation to use art in my daily life,” Preetha shared. And so, with an iPad and regular painting software, Preetha transformed her hobby into an everyday habit and she began posting her art on social media.
When she showed these to Vandana (to who she had been previously introduced), they recognised her work as part of the Art Brut movement or outsider art that is made by self-taught artists and is often a form of expression for mental states as well. “We had been talking about the Art Brut movement for a while at The Banyan then.
We offer services to various vulnerable communities and while one-to-one therapeutic sessions and grievance redressal are important, we realised that when one turn to art as a mode of expression whether music, sculpture, painting or other it is an expression of how they feel, what they like out of life; it evoked a whole other kind of emotion, insight and feeling,” explained Mrinalini Ravi of The Banyan, adding, “The movement is about people who are not in the mainstream, whose art and expression are not heard as often but whose insights are so important, especially in the context of serving themselves.”
Finding Preetha’s work to fit this description, the organisation reached out to her and she became the first artist whose work would be showcased by The Banyan for the Art Brut movement. Many other artists will soon be featured, informed Mrinalini. Preetha, eager to support the cause, will be donating all the profits from the sale of the artwork and coffee table book towards the works of the organisation.
“I think humanity has always tried to reach out to art, literature and music. It is a continuous process to express ourselves through it and I think, this is a continuation of that tradition that has evolved. People ask ‘What is the point of art?’ I think art is the core of our existence, it keeps us alive and allows us to understand ourselves, introspect, communicate and reach out. Many people have found the stress we go through every day very challenging and we have to find our own ways to battle it, work with it and go beyond it and I think Preetha has found art to be that healing process. I learned a lot being here today,” noted Kanimozhi at the launch.
Walls that tell stories
The exhibition featured paintings in five themes Birds, Earth, Community, Faces and Abstract. “Everything (in my art) is coming from my mind. There are various musings that happen during different phases of bipolar (disorder) and I have some recurring themes. Many years ago, when the BP oil spill happened, I remember seeing somewhere a set of hands cleaning a bird in layers and layers of viscous oil. I wondered what the bird must be thinking. I began thinking like a bird coexisting with humans and thought that they are angry.
We are moving into their space, do they have agency? Through my drawings, I was able to give them a voice and was really happy. The second theme is environment and the third is community which is sometimes about stories which I hear. Then, there is the theme of faces. People are often afraid to make eye contact with people with mental illness for fear of being inappropriate. People don’t know how to respond to something different from their ordinary. So, I find it fascinating to draw blank faces. Sometimes, however, some of my faces are very expressive as well. The last theme is abstract, which is when I have slow days. It is numb, really raw and sometimes I get ideas, other times it's just different colours and textures,” elaborated Preetha.
She also wants her art to give meaning to society. The paintings may be personal, but there are interpretations one can make of them, maybe even finding the inspiration to paint their own stories.
The exhibition will be on display at Apparao Galleries, Wallace Garden 3rd street, Nungambakkam, till July 28.
With an exhibition of her paintings and the launch of a coffee table book, Preetha Mahadevan flags off the Art Brut movement displays by The Banyan to showcase works of people with mental health conditions