Battling against gender norms to revive an ancient art form

Thangka, an ancient Buddhist art form that originated in Tibet, captures the life and works of the Buddha. Mostly practised by monks, the art is generally used in

Thangka, an ancient Buddhist art form that originated in Tibet, captures the life and works of the Buddha. Mostly practised by monks, the art is generally used in murals and in scrolls. When Umika Mediratta Shriram, discovered the art form as an undergraduate art student, she was instantly dawn to its effusive ways of depicting nature through the Buddha. Thus began her work as an artist at reviving and creating awareness about the endangered art form.

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Shriram travelled to Dharamshala in 2012, the seat of Buddhism in India, to further study Thangka. However, when she approached the Norbulingka Institute, which is dedicated to preserving Tibetan culture, she was surprised to hear that women are not enrolled for the Thangka curriculum, which spans seven years.

“Thangka spoke to me as an art form. It was shocking to hear that the institute does not accept women. I then approached a former professor of the institute who had opened his own studio, after retirement,” said Shriram, an alumnus of Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati University. She studied the art form there and its motifs for three months.

Shriram, a native of Raipur, Chhattisgarh then travelled to Bhutan to further sharpen her skills as a Thangka artist. At Thimpu, she enrolled in an art institute, where she found herself to be the only woman studying the art form. There were other women at the institute but they usually opted for weaving or sculpture, she added.

“Thangka would often be painted in the prayer hall, as the sessions were in progress. They were often creations of meditations. Similarly, for me too, the painting became a form of deep meditation. You enter a trance. It was during this time, that I discovered a side to me that I did not know existed,” said the 29-year-old resident of DLF Phase-2.

For a long time, Shriram stuck to the traditional art form of Thangka, painting the Buddha and his forms in bright colours with traditional motifs. Avalokiteshvara is one such creation of hers that depict the Buddha with a thousand arms and eyes signifying love and compassion. He is surrounded by snaking dragons, pink clouds and a flowing river.

However, soon she progressed to create contemporized versions of Thangka, in which she deconstructed the traditional paintings, leaving the five elements of the art form, such as sun, moon, water, flower and animals, intact. Her paintings at first glance may come across as beautiful vibrant patchworks of different textures, colours and patterns, yet, on a closer look, the patterns cleverly put together underlying imagery of the Buddha.

“The presence of the Buddha in the paintings is similar to how we see and perceive life. You are constantly aware of life’s distracting and cluttering elements. Yet, you eventually become aware of the true meaning of life,” said Shriram.

The artist has displayed her works in cities, such as Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Bangalore. She also exhibited her creations in South Korea. Last year, the artist worked in collaboration with the Government of Portugal to create murals on abandoned or neglected properties across Flores Island. She created eight murals over a period of three months, with voluntary members from the local community.