At first I was drawn to it because of the geometric patterns and bright colors it uses. Drawing those repetitive patterns was so therapeutic and it helped me destress after a very long day with a newborn baby.
1. Tell us more about your background and journey.
I don’t have any art background if that’s what you are asking. I have been painting almost all my life but I never went to any institution to learn art. I started doing Madhubani (folk art mainly from Bihar and Nepal) about three years ago. I had recently became a mother and was desperate for some ‘me’ time. So I started painting after so many years and tried Madhubani for the first time.
At first I was drawn to it because of the geometric patterns and bright colors it uses. Drawing those repetitive patterns was so therapeutic and it helped me destress after a very long day with a newborn baby. But the more I explored the artform, the more attracted I felt towards the art. Later it became a medium for me to tell my stories and I gradually found my own unique style.
2. When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?
To be honest, I never had any plans to become a professional artist, but when a few of my friends saw my artworks on my personal Facebook profile, they insisted on buying and further encouraging me to open up an online shop. At the same time, I started receiving queries from strangers on Instagram as well. I still wasn’t very convinced but thought of giving it a try anyway. But it still took me a few months to finally start selling. I really wanted to be sure if this is something I wanted do for a long time. Turned out, I did.
3. Is it a financially stable career?
This is a difficult question to answer. It could be for some while others may struggle and that may not have anything to do with the quality of their arts. I guess, like any other businesses, one will have to diversify their offerings to maximize the opportunities of earnings. The advent of social media definitely opened up huge opportunities to budding artists like never before. You have to look at it as a business and not necessarily as an artist in order for it to be financially viable to any acceptable degree.
4. Who is your favorite illustrator and why?
I have many. I love Frida Kahlo, for her deeply personal paintings and Yayoi Kusama for her vivid yet minimalistic pieces. I love weaving artist Suraiya Rahman’s simple depiction of undivided Bengal’s village life through her Kanthas and Nandalal Bose’s fusion of Indian and other South Asian art forms.
5. Where do you get inspired from to create art?
Mainly Indian mythology, folk tales that I grew up hearing, but most importantly, my childhood. My paintings are just a way for me to revisit my childhood and relive those memories. My family, especially my little boy inspires me a lot these days.
6. What piece of advice would you like to give to future aspiring artists?
My advice for them would be to be themselves and work on developing their own style so that people can recognize their work, practice a lot, and try to tell their own stories through their art.
7. Which is your favorite book and why?
I have been obsessed with a book called Black by Santosh Kumar Das, a world renowned Madhubani artist, for quite sometime now.
somafolkart@gmail.com
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