BHUBANESWAR: Odia artist Mona Biswarupa Mohanty has received the UAE’s coveted Golden Visa or long-term residence visa for 10 years. Belonging to Baripada, the Dubai-based visual artist is the first Odia to receive this visa that was implemented in UAE in 2019. It is granted to people with expertise in the fields of arts, literature and culture, heritage history and cognitive studies.
With the visa, Biswarupa along with her husband Lalatendu Mohanty and son Tanay would be able to live, work and study in the country without the need of a national sponsor and with 100 per cent ownership of their business on the UAE’s mainland.
The freelance artist, who primarily works on the themes of nature and the feminine, is currently registered with the Dubai Economic Department. A painter at heart and fashion designer by training, Biswarupa did a master research study program in fashion and textile design from Istituto Europeo di design Milan, Italy, after completing her Bachelors Diploma in Fashion Designing from National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi.
“Dubai, which is culturally diverse and has a vibrant art scene, has always been supportive of art and artists. I thank the Dubai Culture and Arts Authority for granting me this long term residency and Odia Samaj in the UAE to have always supported my endeavours. I will use this opportunity for creative collaboration with artists from other parts of the world working in the UAE ‘’, says the artist who began her career as a painter from School of Art and Crafts, Baripada, where she pursued a three-year diploma in fine arts, with specialisation in watercolor.
Having worked as a fashion illustrator for many designers including Satya Paul, JJ Valaya, Ritu Kumar and Rohit Bal Designs Pvt Ltd, Biswarupa moved to Dubai in 2007 to work as a senior faculty member of Manipal University there for five years. In 2016, she began her journey as a freelance visual artist in the country.
Daughter of lyricist and poet Sangram Keshari Mohanty, she commonly uses pink or red tones from ink and ‘alata’ mediums besides the regular acrylic for her paintings. In fact, she says her father’s ink and mother’s ‘alata’ have been her medium ever since she started sketching at the age of three. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik took to Twitter to congratulate Biswarupa for the visa.