KOCHI: David Hall in Fort Kochi, a building of immense historical significance, where important men had held many a meeting, was recently host to Woman, an exhibition by Vanessa Meister, a Swiss designer who’s made Kochi her home.
Her illustrations, which depict women from across the world, both known and imagined, adorned the walls of the Hall where once portraits of famous men were hung. This feat alone is indicative of how far we’ve come as a society, but the fact remains that the idea of a woman is often resigned to stereotypical beauty standards, or shall we say, is still seen through a colonial/western lens.
Vanessa’s exhibition, Woman, stretches this lens and ultimately breaks it, resulting in an explosion of colour and detail, opening discussions around gender in a creative, and thus, fruitful way.
The work on these illustrations began during the early days of the Covid lockdown, in 2020. “When I started, I didn’t have a plan. It was like, finally, I had time on my hands to do what I wanted. I started to paint. As I painted, I realised my then work was in response to a singular incident that had transpired just days before the lockdown,” Vanessa tells TNIE.
While browsing through a picture book, Vanessa stumbled on an illustration depicting a young family — the woman, who had long hair, was in a shalwar kameez and smiling. The man, who had short hair, was looking a bit serious. “I couldn’t identify with the woman at all. Actually, with my shirt and short hair, I looked more like the man in the picture. It got me thinking about how women are represented — always nice and smiling. I was a little annoyed. So, for my first painting, I drew a woman. This time, her mouth was open. I wanted to show that not only is she smiling, but also talking. She is not a passive character,” Vanessa says.
But again, this illustration that she drew was of a traditional Indian woman. It soon occurred to her that she wasn’t represented yet, and neither were the women she knew. Women who have short hair, curly hair, women with specs, women who have piercings. Even, women who were a little bit different.
“So, who is a woman? How can we always have one idea of who a woman is? We just have these beauty standards that are so specific to a region, a particular culture, or an age. When we open that up, we can see that many women don’t feel represented at all. Especially, older women, whom we don’t necessarily show. So I painted more. I was just having fun. Slowly, the collection grew,” Vanessa says.
Soon, she was out of canvases. Because no art shops were open, she had to resort to painting on the back of canvases (some of these works were also part of the exhibition). Six weeks later, when the first mall reopened, Vanessa rushed to replenish her art supplies, while others scrambled to grab packets of maida. “I got all the canvases they had — canvases of all shapes and sizes. Normally, I would not paint on non-square shapes. But I had no choice. I had to paint,” Vanessa says.
During all this time, Vanessa was also engaged with a project for export manufacturer Neytt. “I was to design a rug for them - something iconic, colourful. As a designer, I was adamant that I wanted to do something that spoke a message. I was thinking a lot about women, what it means to be a woman, and what women want to look like. So when Neytt reached out for an update, I told them I would make a collection on women,” Vanessa says.
She selected sixteen illustrations from the many she had painted and sent them to Neytt. They loved the idea, save for one design. One of the illustrations depicted a face with a moustache. Since this did not feel like a woman, Vanessa was asked to substitute that with another work.
“At first, I agreed. After all, it was a clear mistake. I knew that. But then I thought, this idea that women should not have moustaches is also born out of social conditioning: women should not have a moustache, only men. Actually, women too could have moustaches — because of their choice or some condition. Such women should also be represented, I thought. Finally, Neytt too agreed. It was a powerful message about acceptance and freedom, and creativity too,” Vanessa adds.
Another striking illustration is one wherein a woman is depicted with skewed eyes. “It was born out of a mistake. My first reaction was to fix it, but I thought, not everything has to be symmetrical or beautiful. Let that also be representative of women who don’t have the features that society deems ‘nice’.” In letting the brush guide her, Vanessa was able to surprise herself and remain curious as each day brought a different woman, a different story. Vanessa’s background as a designer is also evident in the works.
Some illustrations are adorned with embroidery and colourful accessories. In doing so, Vanessa not only lends personalities to the characters she has drawn but also manages to not confine the art to the frame. Instead, she projects them outward, into the real. It also extends to an array of merchandise that lines a small table nearby — from notebooks, playing cards, t-shirts and more. “Some artists may feel protective about keeping their original works intact. But I love to translate them into other mediums. You know, when you visit a museum, there’s always a souvenir shop for you to take something home. This is my idea of what you can take home,” Vanessa explains.
In addition to these accessories, Vanessa had also imagined stories for all of her 100 women. These are made apparent in the background of the frames that these faces occupy. “Initially, I had wanted to leave them all plain. But then I started playing around with them. I thought, here’s an element that could give more information to the viewer,” Vanessa says. In a few lines, strokes or letters, she also managed to depict the socio-cultural settings that trap the inhabitants of her frame.
The poster child of the exhibition too has an interesting backstory. Made of just three colours — blue, red and white — and on a bigger scale than the other paintings, this is certainly the more vibrant of the illustrations on display here. Vanessa says that this blue is the Cochin Corporation blue. The red and white… of Switzerland. “It’s not random that these colours made it to the poster. I see these colours a lot. I like them, their combination. It’s a nice tie-up between Kochi and Switzerland,” Vanessa says.
Though the paintings were done in 2020, it took until now for Vanessa to muster the courage to do an exhibition. Despite a career that spans decades, this is her first formal exhibition. “The way I’m presenting this work is like how an artist would. I’m a designer more than an artist. So that’s why. Also, I had to wait for the rug, which had gone on a bit of a journey, doing exhibitions. Now that it was home, I thought, it was a good time to show the original artwork and the rug as part of a single collection. This is the first time these paintings are seeing the light. They had been at home for the past four years,” Vanessa explains.
Despite the purported feminist underpinnings of the exhibition, Vanessa maintains that Woman is not a collection against men. “I wanted to show a variety of women, break the stereotype. For the next show, I want to include men as well. Essentially, I want to talk about gender,” she says.