Wooden Relief works - HELNA MERIN JOSEPH

18/11/2023

Betty Bought Some Bit Of Bitter Butter (2015-2022)

Being a woman artist, my works speaks for myself and all my fellow women. Inspirations from all around, art is not a mere passion rather a lifestyle for me. The women whom I have met during my journeys, the stories revealed through their glances, their helpless, shivering hands and the misogynistic world that I experience myself are factors that played a vital role in my creations. By choosing sculpting, I was taking the road less travelled by women, and also paving a new way to the upcoming artists. My sculptures are given new dimensions with the application of acrylic colors which again gives me my own space in the artistic realm. Identity is what every artist yearns for and I believe my methods moulded out of so many experiments promise me a seat in the field. My works touch the different stages of a women’s life. A child enjoying her ‘Tricycle’ to a ‘Shut Up’ girl to a ‘Kupamanduka’ and a ‘Dreaming Girl’, the emotional roller coasters of women find space in my canvas. Changes, synonymous to the lifeline of a woman is beautifully captured in my work ‘Shifts’. Living and surviving are words that are poles apart. ‘Tailor’ shows a surviving woman and ‘Perfectly Unbalanced’ talks about this distinction of life and survival instincts. Girls depicted in ‘Homeless’ and ‘Locked Quilt’ are women near you, in your home, among yourselves and you yourself. Finally, comes the ‘Question Mark’; when will women start accepting themselves, when will women come out of their cocoons, when will women be true to her inner spirit and finds out her true worth? A perfect amalgamation of my intuitions and my experiences enabled me to come up with novel ideas and execute them perfectly. My travels, photography, painting are all added feathers in my cap. Solitary ventures that I did took me to unseen arenas of women’s life and I decided to work upon the agonies and difficulties faced by them in our society. The wrinkled stories of women found life in my uneven and unembellished wooden reliefs without a perfect shape or texture. Dilemmas of their uncanny existence reached to the audience through the pricky surfaces of the wooden planks. I consciously take effort to prove that my perspectives on life are showcased to my viewers. Realities of women’s life etched in all my sculptures will definitely be relatable to my female audience. My Shirt (2015) Wood 21x16cm