- by Laya Sasikumar
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Softly spoken, but with a commanding artistic presence, London based artist Sheila Malhotra is
no virgin to the art world. She has already received critical acclaim for her unique and challenging series ‘The World Through a Porthole’, based on her own experiences of travelling around the globe as the wife of a Merchant Navy ship’s captain. Her new exhibition ‘Playing with the Millennia’, which explores the years leading up to and after the millennium, will ironically be showcased at the end of this decade in the wellrenowned Jehanghir Art Gallery in Mumbai.
Having spent her childhood and early years in the north Indian state of Shimla, Malhotra grew up surrounded by the breathtaking views of the snowcapped peaks. Here she had only heard stories about the sea, and never imagined that she would actually spend five years of her married life travelling across seas and oceans around the globe.
“The thought of travelling on a ship was terrifying to me, and the prospect lonely. But when I looked out of the porthole, I could see the horizon and it became my own porthole to the outside world.” She describes the scenes she witnessed as ‘overwhelming’ and ‘astounding’, from the sunset skies to the Milky Way, and presence of magnificent sea creatures —all views which she found liberating and awe-inspiring. Personally for her, the ship’s porthole was not just a link to the outside world, but evoked a feeling of liberation reminiscent she says ‘of the flight of the soul itself ’.It is this same unique and positive force that she takes with her new exhibition ‘Playing with the Millenia’,which showcases her artistic interpretation of the world moving from one millennium into the next.
“This event is of great significance. It only comes every 1000 years, and not one person will live to see it again. I wanted to explore the transition from one millennia to the next.”
Malhotra draws upon her personal experiences as well as paying close attention to the events in the world around her, thus for this particular series she says her inspiration arose from newspaper articles on the lead-up to the millennium.
“There was so much excitement, anticipation and expectation all around the globe. People were actually travelling from country to country, to see in the millennium. But ten years on people have already started to forget all this. I just felt it important to preserve the memories and feelings as we embarked into a new millennia.”
Through a mixture of oil, acrylic and gouache, Malhotra has recycled news-prints incorporating it into her artwork, allowing her work to freeze-frame the millennium years in motion. As well as encapsulating the mood of the time, her paintings provide a great insight into her surreal and vivid imagination. The colours, textures and imagery, gives a sense of positivity and hope as we embark on a new decade.
Laya Sashikumar who holds an MA in broadcast journalism, is a professional media consultant and a trained Indian classical dancer

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