KATHMANDU

Prithivi, the World in Me, a solo painting exhibition by artist Shivangini Rana, aims to raise awareness about the importance of mental health in Nepal.

Naureen Lari, international life coach, therapist, and healer inaugurated the exhibition at Villa 72, Uttar Dhoka, on September 3.

"All the artworks exhibited here show our interconnectedness with the outside world and our mental state," Rana said as she revealed that it took her "six to seven months to paint all the artworks on display here".

Rana has mostly used acrylics in her artwork.

Two of the paintings titled Saas are made with oil paint. Paintings of similar themes are given the same title, and Saas is one of such examples. This set revolves around the theme of the breath of life.

One of the artworks under Saas title seems to be from the perspective of someone lying down in a grove of foxgloves and looking towards the sky. The sky is painted in shades of pink and purple, mimicking the sky during sunsets. The foxgloves are painted in similar shades as the sky along with the use of mustard yellow colour . The painting invokes feelings of serenity and spiritual calm in the viewer. The choice of flowers painted amplifies this feeling as foxgloves are often associated with intuition, creativity and energy.

Another painting, also titled Saas features flowers. It is painted in what seems to be a daylight as the sky in this painting is in blue shade with white clouds.

The flowers are all painted in yellow. Much like the previous Saas painting, this artwork also exudes a great sense of tranquillity and feels like a breath of refreshing air after a tedious day.

The exhibition also features paintings that impersonate the beginning of the universe in the Big Bang theory. One of such paintings is made with acrylic on canvas and uses diverse colours - from soft lilac and blues to shimmering gold. The hues are very similar to the colours of nebulas and other interstellar bodies. The paintings swirl outwards from one pivotal point - reflecting the existence of everything from nothing. In a metaphorical sense, the artwork symbolises the human mind and how it makes everything from anything, essentially the 'big bang' of the human mind.

The artist has played with textures in some works like The Flower of Life. It showcases a string of flowers in shades of dark pink, yellow and blood red. The backdrop of the painting has a very dark shade of blue, and upon it the flowers and leaves are painted by carefully piling the paint.

This technique gives it a three-dimensional look.

The fourth solo exhibition by abstract artist Rana features total of 31 abstract paintings painted with rich, earthy colours like sea green and mustard yellow and try to tell viewers that they should take care of their mental health.

The exhibition is a charity project organised in collaboration with Unity in Health Nepal, and is supported by Nepalese Young Entrepreneurs' Forum (NYEF) Kathmandu Chapter and Villa 72 restaurant.

Unity in Health Nepal works to improve quality of care for people affected by mental illness in Nepal, by training local nurses and other healthcare workers, as well as by establishing mental health walk-in clinics for people with no access to mental health facilities, especially in remote regions of Nepal. Part of proceeds from the exhibition will be donated for improvement of quality of care for people affected by mental illness in Nepal.

The exhibition is on till September 10.

A version of this article appears in the print on September 4, 2022 of The Himalayan Times.