KOCHI: Thrissur-based artist Jeena Niaz highlights and dramatises the mundane and insignificant; everything she experiments with, from newspapers and buttons to driftwood, turns into gold. This Midas touch of hers won her two records -- India Book of Records and Asia Book of Records -- for her artwork during the lockdown.
Jeena had created a 24-square feet newspaper collage portrait of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and a timeline reel on the pandemic history with chart paper. The latter is 50.5 metres long and one foot wide.
“For my reel, I used news reports, statistics and pictures on Covid-19 published on Malayalam, Hindi and English newspapers dated from March to June. It took nearly 12 days to complete the artwork,” says Jeena, a mathematics teacher.
Jeena didn’t stop at it. Using 19,278 coloured buttons, she made a 6x4 feet portrait of Malayalam film director Sathyan Anthikkad which was gifted to him at his residence.
“While I started the portrait before the lockdown, I ran out of buttons and couldn’t buy the same. Work was resumed once the buttons were readily available. I have also employed the use of beads for his facial features. The work was completed in six days,” she explains. Check out her artwork on her Instagram and Facebook page ‘Art of Jeena’.
Starting at the top
Residing in Bahrain, Jeena has painted portraits of public personalities including former president APJ Abdul Kalam, author MT Vasudevan, lyricist Sreekumaran Thampi and actor KPAC Lalitha, which were presented to them in person. While she works with oil and water mediums, it is her intrigue for art which made her explore further. Jeena’s former works have also made it to exhibitions. ‘It’s Raining’ comprising 34 artworks themed on rain was held at Kerala Museum, Kochi, in 2019. Proceeds were donated to flood victims.
Aiming for the moon
Even as she works on another unique medium to gain a place amid the Guinness Book of World Records, Jeena has been teaching aspiring artists to work with different mediums on her YouTube channel ‘Art of Jeena’.