- by A. Purushottam
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In her canvasses, Sheila Malhotra, has tried to capture the impression of her voyages and more importantly, her observation of sea, ship journey and marine life, in vary detail manner. It was all so visible in the exhibition of her works at Jehangir Art Gallery, which was on till 2nd of July.

“I traveled a lot, on ship with my husband. Almost six years, though, not continuously. And that too, a long time ago. But, after such a long gap, those images starting emerging and I start putting them on my canvasses,” she clarifies. “In fact, earlier, I was working on different themes and subjects,” she said.

It was something like a muse that you feel relieved only when you give a concrete shape to it or use in your creative endeavour.

Rightly so, she named her works as ‘Marine World’ – ‘Through the Porthole’. Somewhere, she had tried to present an aqua-blue sea throbbing with a shoal of fishes ding their dance act. Somewhere, she brings in the pleasing feeling of vastness and the depth of the great ocean, but through the windows of the ship.

In another of canvasses, she had tried to present a different aspect of Marin life, where tow ships are shown to be the pawns in the hands of the shipping companies.

In her works, it will not wrong to stat that, she has also tried to capture the beauty of the marine world and ocean, through the windows, big and small.

Then the artist goes a little further, where she tries to capture the world beyond the ocean and blue-waters. She is also trying to capture the ‘mood’ ‘myth’ behind the solar eclipse. She has tried to write her own version of the legend, as learned from the various sources- like word-of-mouth, books or simply, legends.

Capturing ‘Marine World’ and ‘the World beyond this world–Sheila Malhotra has been successful in freezing those experiences vivid and beautiful on her canvasses.

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