Teen artists impress with their unashamed honesty
While San-Mari and Meera each have a unique view of the world to portray through their art, each of them is a talented artist in their own right.
The barefaced honesty reflected in San Mari van der Merwe’s art is remarkably poignant. For Ferrum High’s inter-school art expo, this matric pupil produced a series of undeniably soul-stirring art work depicting the affliction of those who are misunderstood in society.
Deeply offended by anyone who views art nothing more than a ‘pretty picture’ San Mari is determined that her art serve as a catalyst for society to reflect upon itself.
One artwork depicts a side profile of San Mari’s own face cast on canvass, eyes downcast, the words ‘NO H8’ tattooed down her cheek. The space on the right, which is the direction San-Mari’s profile would be looking to, if her eyes were open, is filled with row upon row of handwritten text.
“Most people will look at the picture and won’t take the time to read the writing on the side,” said Sa-Mari.
“The writing is lines taken from an interview with Kurt Cobain, the day before he killed himself. It is an honest reflection of what he was feeling, but most people won’t read it. Instead, as will everything else in life, they will look at the surface and judge the picture by what they see on the surface, without caring the time to look deeper. The point is that people will rarely look beneath the surface before judging someone or something.”
Another of her artwork depicts three portraits of a young girl with a black eye. “Something bad happened. At first everybody was shocked, but over time people began to forget that it had happened and I didn’t want to people to forget. Art is permanent so I drew the picture to constantly remind people of what had happened,” she explained.
“I gravitate towards things that people don’t find attractive and look for beauty in the misfits in society,” says San-Mari. “For me art is a form of honesty. I am challenging the way in which people are thought of. People who are smoking, have tattoos or have committed suicide or thought of in a negative light. I draw them to show their beauty. They are just misunderstood.”
San-Mari’s main inspiration is music.
“I have a love hate relationship with art. I hate it when I’m busy bit once I’m finished I love it. I’m a perfectionist and when it comes to art I am very OCD. When I’m busy I can work through the night without sleep and often have callouses on my fingers when I am done, but working through the night is fun and creating art is deeply relaxing,” she concluded.
San-Mari’s art class colleague, Meera Karsan, however has adopted a different approach to art altogether. Through her individual style, Meera’s optimism, joy and enthusiasm is a sunny contrast against San-Mari’s stark honesty that allows this artist to shine in her own right.
Meera first had her artistic talent recognised as a primary school pupil at Busy Bee, when she received an award at the Creative Garden hosted at the Vodacom Newcastle Winter Festival.
Post matric, she hopes to pursue a career in graphic design.
For the art that she had displayed at the Ferrum Art Expo, Meera used a kaleidoscope of mixed media in bright bold colours to depict the vibrancy of the Indian culture.
“Not many people choose culture as a topic on which to base their art work, but I aim to create work that I would like to see hung up in my own homw someday. The Indian culture is bold and vibrant in terms of its dance and tradition and that it what I hope people will identify with in my work. You can see my own perspective of the world reflected in the colour, tones and happy facial expressions,” explains Meera.
While Meera draws inspiration from her culture, she also strives to be unique by experimenting with different techniques and drawing subjects according to how she perceives them with her mind’s eye.
One of Meera’s artworks depicts her own aunt on her wedding day, another, the colourful festival of holi, and a third depicts an Indian dancer.
Meera, herself is trained as an Indian dancer, but also enjoys sport, being actively involved in hockey, cricket and golf.
“For me art is a message to future generations that reflects the current era and how we are living in society. Art is a medium for history and story-telling. My mother is artistically inclined, so I guess I inherited the art gene from her,” she concluded.
