Shalini — celebrating the feminine spirit through her art

Seereeram, 37, is a primarily self-taught artist who had a natural ability for art. It was a school teacher that noticed her perfectly drawn doodles: “When I was seven years old, I sat in my primary school class drawing. The teacher asked if I traced the picture, and realising that I didn’t after a while, she said I did a good job. That was the very first moment I realised I liked art. Of course, many a text and copy book later filled with doodles I never looked back.”

After a fire destroyed her home at age nine, Seereeram learned the value of starting from scratch. She explained that she had to explore new avenues to amuse herself through creativity.

Her experiences fashioned her into an optimistic, free thinking and resilient individual: “I always acknowledge the existence of a silver lining on gray clouds.”

She never received any formal training in art. For a while Seereeram explored an interest in graphic design and jewelry design at the John S Donaldson Technical Institute. In 1997, she was awarded the President’s Medal for her daring and complex jewelry designs.

The artist was heavily influenced by the scenic countryside of Chaguanas that she grew up in. The magical remote surroundings played on her imagination and inspired her to interpret them through art. Her progressive style of art is derived from experimentation with lacquer paints, acrylics, Indian inks, nail polish and exaggerating the quality of colour with texture through paper collage, metal wire and even a spare chattel windows. “I am a trash to treasure believer,” she declares.

The mixed-mediums contrast and complement each other to conjure up dimension and evoke profound motion and emotion. Her technical approach to art is to allow infinite linear angles and intricate patterns interplay within the picture plane. The result is eccentric characters tangled in an inescapable dreamscape.

Depending on her mood, she draws inspiration from different things: “The mere idea of colour and fabrics and patterns or textures would move me to work, or music and even Indian movies, ripe with culture, its as though inspiration itself is innate.”

And when it strikes, Seereeram is prepared with a little sketch book stashed in her purse. Painting has a soothing energy, she said: “When there are no deadlines involved there is a complete sense of calm when I am painting, I sit back and let the colour light up the palette and take form, then again when you know you are not getting the essence of the piece just right it’s completely the opposite.”

The theme of Seereeram’s pieces centre around men, women and the flamboyant dance of the sexes. Contorted and confused, the figures often overlap into an ambiguous form. The lovers melt into a sea of each other. According to her, the idea is to undulate the tonal quality of a piece. So some images may be a fractured puzzle while others are a dripping maze.

She said that her work is ever-changing, but for the moment celebrates the feminine spirit: “I believe being artistic is still always a learning process, as artists our work never stop evolving. Currently, my work is mainly centred around the embodiment of women, the celebration of the female be it the mother, the nurturer, the beautiful centre of life or the sensual being. I try to capture the beautiful side of human life, the vibrant, the Caribbean woman who is warm, sensual and rich in culture.”

The painter has featured her work in different capacities at exhibitions at the Horizons Art Gallery, Y Art Gallery, the Trinidad Art Society’s Annual Exhibition and the Art Cover Design Gallery in Tobago. She has auctioned and displayed some of her pieces in the United States and Barbados. She was inivted to showcase her paintings at the at the Organization of American States (OAS) Headquarters.

As a freelance illustrator, Seereeram’s striking paintings have also been splashed across the magazines like Caribbean Beat and Maco. In 2000, she was awarded the Trinidad Art Society’s Prize for Painting. Her work has also been featured as Visual Artist for CLICO’s Calendar in 2003.

She said that the she wants people to appreciate the aesthetic quality her abstract work: “When people view my work I want them to experience or partake in pleasure of the art itself.”

Many of her pieces depict East meets West Indian culture, that which our ancestors brought with them and was passed onto their decedents. A bold culture of music, fashion, dance and gentle expression.

Seereeram said that she hopes someday to feature her collection of paintings, most of which have distinctive cultural elements, to a larger international audience: “I would like to show in more international platforms representing my country. However, until that time comes, I hope that the work that I do for charities helps those who are less fortunate and influences others to do the same. We need to understand that we are not existing merely for ourselves. In Trinidad, my homeland, I acknowledge that there is a responsibility that rests on each of us to be a positive role model in someone else’s life in order to secure the future of our nation.”