Jitha Karthikeyan is a contemporary artist, based in Coimbatore. She paints with cats on the prowl from her home ! Jitha had been a quiet child and even before words were uttered, she began to draw. Art was the language during her early days. " In order to talk, one has to use words. It art is used as an expression, then you do not need to talk. My thinking was deep and was more than what was required those days.
Jitha Karthikeyan is a contemporary artist, based in Coimbatore. She paints with cats on the prowl from her home ! Jitha had been a quiet child and even before words were uttered, she began to draw. Art was the language during her early days. " In order to talk, one has to use words. If art is used as an expression, then you do not need to talk. My thinking was deep and was more than what was required those days. I used to always smile but my emotions were put on paper and then destroyed. My sketches reflected my moods and they were collectively like a diary. I had to do a number of shows to call myself an artist. Being an artist is a way of life. It has to be a journey and the paintings or sketches are a by product. Most of us did not have an exposure to art while growing up in our town. We were just asked to draw and colour, never asked to think and draw. Art shows in Coimbatore were not the order of the day. Nobody told us that it was possible to have a career in art. The people who gave us career guidance at schools never gave art as an option", smiled Jitha from the comfort of her studio at home.
The artist has been painting for it has been a part of her life. She was doing conceptual art and people had told her that there would not be much of a demand for her kind of work. Jitha would not do decorative pieces for she wanted her work to convey a meaning. One day, she had gone to buy some material for her work and found an entry form for the ' South Region Exhibition'. She sent in her entry and won a prize. Therefore her work was displayed at the Chitrakala Parishad in Bengaluru. This victory opened up a new world for her. People began inviting her for group shows and it became a journey.
Slowly and steadily her work started getting noticed and she began to move from national to international galleries. To her credit, she has been the first Coimbatorean to show her work internationally. She has had two shows in Florence ( Florence ) and one at Milan ( Italy ) thus far. Jitha has been the only Indian who had participated in these group shows. Art had always been self expression for her. At last one show changed it all. Her picture which showed a girl staring out of the canvas did it. The theme had been on child sexual abuse and it was sought by a traveler who had been a victim herself. The lady could relate to the picture and felt that the picture would heal her. Jitha began to understand the power of art due to this experience. She gave the picture to the lady and she continues to seek pieces of art from Jitha.
" Until this experience, there was a bit of selfishness in my art because I thought that it was my own expression. On seeing the social impact, I felt that there was more to my work than what I thought. Then I started realizing that anyone who could connect to my work will become emotionally attached to it. The connect with the common man began thereafter. My picture ' UNRESERVED ' with a full compartment of people is very conceptual. Both the compartment and the stares are unreserved ! I began to address social issues through art. I try to address social issues through my work and bring about a change.
Art is a soft path. It is not like legislation where over night changes happen. But through art you can start off a thought process. Therefore art becomes a catalyst for change. It was at this moment that I found my purpose in my journey with art. Of course, the shows are important as they are part of the career graph of the artist. However, one should convey a message. Every piece of art done by me will have a story. This perhaps helps me to be an artist trying to create social change. I am an artist 24/7, " shared the thoughtful artist.
Jitha feels that if an artist can explain his or her work to a little child, then the work has got its worth. She also states that it would be possible to address issues faced by children through art. Nowadays, Jitha is busy with a project concerning the girl child. She has been working in the Dharmapuri region. Studying female infanticide and also visiting prisons while going into rural areas are part of her work schedule. " I want to do a public art project for awareness in this regard. Its really shocking to see the people up to crimes against the girl child. I met a quack woman who helps women abort the unborn girl. She called herself a social worker for she added that the kid would have been killed anyway. I was shocked to see a remorseless young mother who had murdered her nine month girl child the previous day. She had done it because the child was the third daughter. I wish to address issues like child marriages and female infanticide through this project. I work with prisoners in this connection," stated the purpose oriented artist.
The work ' The woman & the Tula ' shares some inputs of the experiences and trauma of the woman which is part of the person. " The mind is like a prison. The unwanted experiences from the past are not letting a person find a balance. My other work ' Rise above the stench ' is an ode to the untouchables. The flowers on the hair of the lady is an indicator. To be considered clean is a dream for such people and to be accepted is a goal. Its a dream for the disadvantaged to be treated without discrimination. In another work my focus was on the child worker.
I used to find this little girl singing and cleaning utensils in the night. This made me draw the girl with the moon and stars being represented through utensils. We take the dreams of people for granted. I am sure that this will make people think. I am not an activist but my work can be a catalyst. Besides being an artist, I curate shows too. However, a thought or concept will be behind these shows. Now my show for Volvo - the car company is about transport shaping the history of the world. Transport is the cause for anything and everything.
I do sketches for poets once in a way. The poetry collection of Shobhana Kumar has a number of illustrations done by me and they are based on her poems. I try to address consumerism when found in excess. My work ' The Forest People ' is based on my visits to Wyanad. Seeing the changes brought out in the lives of forest dwellers due to the mushrooming of resorts made me come up with it, " shared Jitha, the catalyst.
One can see a lot of banana leaves in her work and this is a reflection of her environment. Jitha is a thinking artist and is keen to ensure that her work will make life better. All this is done without compromising on the quality of work. Jitha takes time off to give guest lectures on art in schools and colleges.
Jitha spoke about her work , ' Trojan Horse ' - " This work retraces my journey so far, perhaps for one last time. Various reasons drove me to choose a chapter from the Greek epic Iliad by Homer as the setting for this self-portrait. The missing perspective of the Trojan Horse from among all the interpretations of the episode being one of them. The horse is just a vehicle of valour, a means to an end, as envisioned by somebody else. I have consciously chosen the voice of the wooden horse to push my memories into an attic where they merge with mythology — blurring the borders between the real and the surreal. "
Enterprising Jitha Karthikeyan is serving several causes through her art. This catalyst from Coimbatore is sure to go places.