Pune: Sitting amid in the bustling Viman Nagar, Pune, Sneha carefully dips her paintbrush in a pot of green paint. With gentle but skilful strokes, she paints stunning outlines on one of the street walls before letting out a sigh with contentment.
With gurgles of paints, inborn talent and a keen eye for specifying, meet Sneha Chakraborty, an artist who is sprinkling the streets and buildings of Mumbai and Pune with her women-centric art.
Like the West, mural art has grown popularity in India in recent times and Sneha has been quite brilliant at it not only with the aesthetics but also with the powerful messages she sends out.
However, the origins of Sneha’s story is laced with darkness and depression too.
“I was introduced to anxiety at an early age. I would freeze and blank out whenever my teacher would ask me a question, unclearly somewhere in the background I would hear laughing noises. Those were my mates, laughing at me. As I grew up, I was unappreciated for only participating in drawing competitions which I mostly won before coming to know that I have fallen in the dark well: Depression. One day I got a call from someone from an NGO asking me if I can paint a wall in the slum of Khar (Mumbai) as he liked my paintings which I casually posted on social media,” Sneha recalls.
Elaborating on that experience, she adds, “The first day I went to the slum, and they provided me with a huge wall. After brainstorming, I started painting and saw kids gathering around. Slowly we started sharing lunch and dreams. As I got closer to finish the painting, I realised my mural started bringing change in the society. People started keeping the place clean, it became a space for evening meeting spots. It didn’t take much longer to get the tourists interested. That wall made me come back home and plan on how to earn out of my passion.”
From enchanted landscapes to alluring graffiti and calming floral, Sneha’s work is versatile. She has painted several huge walls in the cities of Pune and Mumbai. Most of her artworks are women-centric that throws light on the power of all womankind.
KEY FOCUS AREA
When asked about the key focus area, Sneha explains, “In my professional years, my understanding of emotions has translated into a ‘Quest for Truth’. My art must resonate to someone’s truth; my work needs to speak with honesty, it is honesty that I spend hours working upon, honesty in the eyes, honesty in the postures and compositions of my pieces, regardless of it being a canvas, client’s office or the streets.
“While many reflect at my art to be ‘feminine’ or ‘woman-centric’, in my understanding, my truth just happens to be that I AM A WOMAN! I do not intend to limit my subjects to only one of the genders, but I love painting women because we have a lot to talk about. I want to portray our happiness and sadness, our pain and power. I do paint for transgender people, queer or any subject that bears a truth for me to express. Over the years, I hope to search for and paint more and more truth across all genders and communities, and hopefully, my work will justify their truth.”
On the commercial front, Sneha has worked with brands like OYO, Broaster, Filament, Bajaj Finserv, etc.
Sneha is also passionate about teaching the subject that she has mastered. She conducts online and offline art workshops. She conducts therapeutic art workshops for all age groups that help her pupils to socialise, cultivate and acquire a new art form.
“Once I left my job and was planning about how to start an art venture, I created my first vertical- art workshop. It’s a beautiful community now of art enthusiast who attends our workshops every weekend. My company LET’S BEE CANVAS (she co-owns it with her brother), has an amazing team of creatives. Mental health positivity is one of our main goals. So, we try our best to provide the crowd with a relaxing and peaceful time. We want people who attend our workshop to have fun with art while socialising. This helps increase confidence and broaden their spectrum," Sneha concludes.
Click here to check out the murals painted by Sneha.