Dr. Usha Shajahan’s paintings on display in Thiruvananthapuram celebrate the familiar

It’s the mundane that inspires Dr. Usha Shajahan as an artist. His first exhibition going on at Vayalopilli Sanskriti Bhavan, Thiruvananthapuram testifies to this.

She walks you through the stories behind the paintings with childlike glee. After becoming a doctor, art was left behind. After spending nearly 30 years in the profession, last year she returned to her passion. By then she and her husband, Dr Shajahan Sivasankar Pillai, who worked in the neurology wing of a prestigious private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, had both given up medicine. Since then life revolved around his passion for cycling, swimming and photography.

All his paintings, made in watercolour, acrylic, oil and soft pastel, are based on photographs, clicked either by him, Dr Shajahan or other photographers. “My husband has always loved photography. His job as a neurosurgeon did not allow him to take it seriously. But during the pandemic, there was a lull in work for both of us. Since we were doctors, we had access to areas under lockdown and that’s when we explored Thiruvananthapuram with our cameras. While I took a detour and focused on painting, he is still doing it seriously,” she says.

Dr. Usha Shajahan’s painting displayed in Thiruvananthapuram. Photo Courtesy: Dr. Shajahan Shivshankar Pillai

Dr. Usha says that her friends had inspired her to organize an exhibition. “My friend Beena said it should have a concept and so I called it The Rhythm of Life: A Dance of Light, Shade and Colors.” More than 130 of those works have been classified and organized based on that topic.

Starting with the section that shows how the earth sparkles at dawn, awakening nature and life, it moves on to the beauty we see in flowers, leaves, water and even household activities. Ultimately, it is sunset time, the light fading as the world slumbers.

So the paintings are about familiar scenes – sunrise, butterflies, wild animals, flowers, sea, beach, children playing by the water, backwaters, snow, countryside scenes, people going about their daily work, etc.

The photographs that inspired the paintings were taken by Usha or her husband during their countless trips to and around Kerala and outside the state. Apart from places like Ponmudi, Vellayani, Valiyathura Ghat etc. in Thiruvananthapuram, there are also tourist places to visit in Munroethuruthu, Kumarakom, Parambikulam, Kollengode, Palakkad, Kolukkumalai and Andaman.

Dr. Usha Shajahan with her paintings displayed in Thiruvananthapuram. Photo Courtesy: Dr. Shajahan Shivshankar Pillai

Usha recalls that when she started with watercolors and acrylics, it was by chance that she also started adopting soft pastel colours. “We were on vacation and I hurt my right shoulder. It was difficult to work with watercolors. So I bought oil pastels and tried it,” she says. The result was a stunning photo of Theyyam at Thozhupadam, Thrissur. Other charming soft pastel creations include the vibrant purple jacaranda flowers he saw in Kotagiri.

The ongoing exhibition at Vayalopilli Sanskriti Bhavan will end on November 26. Timings: 10 am to 6.30 pm.