Melding inexorable faith for Meenakshi with art

CHENNAI: Each lane of Madurai would display vibrancy filled with festive spirit, as the district gears up to celebrate Chithirai Thiruvizha each year. The chariot pulling, the drowning of Azhagar’s idol, thirukalyanam and Meenakshi Amman’s pattabhishekam are some events during the 10-day cultural extravaganza.

The festival showcases the rich heritage of Tamil Nadu, attracting people from across the globe. It is an emotion for people in Madurai. A native of what is famously called theThoonganagaram-- a city that never sleeps, Monisha, who is residing in Chennai, which she fondly refers to as Singara Chennai, for her work, missed attending the thiruvizha this year, “Meenakshi Amman is an inspiration for me. As I am working as an assistant fashion designer here, I couldn’t attend the festival. That motivated me to create an artwork of Madurai Devi using four mediums, graphite, charcoal, colour pencils and watercolours,” starts Monisha. Her name is placed as the youngest person to make a realistic portrait of Meenakshi Amman on an A3 sheet in the International Book of Records.

“I was interested in art from a young age but only during the pandemic lockdown, I started practising portraits. It took two years for me to excel in the art because the initial days were quite challenging. My drawing would be completely different from the actual portrait. But practice is crucial,” she shares. Monisha’s mother and sister were her pillar of support and biggest motivators. Her mother used to gift her drawing equipment no matter if the achievement was big or small.

It took 35 to 38 hours to complete the Meenakshi Amman art. “I began the artwork on the first day of the festival and completed it on the last day. It was intimidating in the beginning as this was my first artwork using colours. I am used to doing black-and-white creations using charcoal. It took time and effort to meticulously portray intricate details like mookuthi and bringing the texture of silk saree was challenging. Through my work, I wanted to showcase what I was missing. Nowadays people do not use vadamalli flowers. But during my childhood, we used to have the flower for pooja. So, I wanted to add that element to my portrait as well,” elucidates the 22-year-old.

In this digital era, young talents use social media as a tool to display their skills to the world and attract opportunities. But is it a transformative tool for everyone? “Not for me. comparatively, social media users give much importance to influencers rather than artistic talents,” she remarks.

“I wanted to try my hand in hyper realistic art, which is an accurate portrayal of what we see. I wish I could strike a balance between achieving in the field of art and also becoming a successful fashion designer,” hopes the young artist.