A cancer survivor has entrusted Doha-based artist Swapna Namboodiri his thermoplastic, mesh radiotherapy mask. He wants it made into the Welsh dragon as a memento of his survival. “His wife refuses to let it into their house. But he didn’t want to let go of it, so he searched the Internet for an artist who could refashion it and found me,” says Swapna. She is working on it, and will complete it once she is back home in Qatar, after her vacation in Kochi.
The mask is a first for the artist who uses plastic bottles as a primary medium. Not only are Swapna’s sculptural artworks part of private collections, they are also on show in three online art galleries—Artfinder, Saatchi and Etsy; last year she showed her work at the Tokyo International Art Fair and held a solo exhibition at Doha. Next month she will show at the Amsterdam International Art Fair.
“The exposure, and response, in Tokyo was great. I was the only artist who had recycled plastic as art.”
Swapna uses the most commonly found source of pollution — PET bottles. The choice of material was deliberate, given its impact on the environment and her focus is recycling and sustainability. In order to reinforce her message, she makes marine-themed art works — corals, shells, bubbles on the ocean surface, ocean blooms, and anything else on National Geographic that inspires her.
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Getting here wasn’t easy. “I had no points of reference as there are not many people who do this. It was all experimentation, I didn’t know how to go about it but I found my way, my processes.”
Swapna uses her bare hands to make her art. Her tools are a pair of scissors, a knife to cut the bottles, brush and paint, and hot water to dunk these bottles to shape them and her studio is a room in her apartment, filled with all kinds of plastic bottles. Depending on how each art work is conceptualised, she either mounts them on canvas or fashions them into sculptures, using zip ties to attach the bottles to each other or wire for the canvas. She has managed to make ‘thread’ to sew a piece together cutting the bottles finely.
“My works are three dimensional (3D), I like textures...so I use all parts of the bottles.”
She also likes to use to as many bottles as possible. As far as the supply of bottles goes, she has her regular sources including a restaurant. “There are many takers, especially collectors with an interest solely in sustainable art. Most of my buyers are in the UK and the US; besides there are expat art collectors too.” She has also used plastic carry bags to make art, for one she fused 20-odd bags and made a four inch art piece.
For someone who was just dabbling in arts and craft when she started, this software engineer has come a long way.
Swapna quit her job with Infosys (Bengaluru) in 2011, and immediately threw herself into making craft and painting. Self taught, she found more time for the arts. Her initial forays into refashioning plastic comprised making jewellery, which she retailed at flea markets.
“The problem was that the initial appreciation would change to disinterest once people heard it was made from plastic bottles. It affected my confidence and I stopped working with it,” says the 32-year-old.
When the family was to move to Qatar, in 2015, Swapna’s concern was her painting equipment. “There are Indians there so I knew the kitchen supplies could be easily found. But paints? I took everything with me.” Before she moved she researched art and craft communities in Qatar and found one, QatART - an art village, a community of 60 plus artists. It was one of the first places she went to, and got involved with its activities.
Every alternate Friday, in the winter months, QatART organises a handmade market at Katara, a cultural village in Doha. Still very involved with QatART, she paints variations of the Doha skyline and Qatar-related art, on glass and perspex, which are popular mementos with tourists.
The return to plastic happened by chance, three years ago, in 2016. Swapna had joined an online art gallery and was experimenting with varying media to find her signature. “Each artist’s work has to be unique. And while trying out different things I thought I ought to give plastic another shot and this time as art.”
The result was the three painting sell-out series ‘Desert Rose’. With that Swapna had found her signature.