A deep ink-line

KOCHI: Susan Theresa Davis’ foray into art happened quite serendipitously. A design internship she attended by chance almost seven years ago steered her away from a career in engineering towards that of an artist. Now a full-time brand designer and illustrator based in Bengaluru, Susan has forged a prolific creative repertoire while also having worked with an impressive range of established and upcoming brands.“My interest in design developed when I was in college. I would come up with posters and logos for various college events.

Before that, I would doodle all over my school textbooks but I never thought much of it back then. After college, I was vacationing in Bengaluru when I got the opportunity to work for Flipkart as a design intern. In three months time, I was inducted as an employee,” says the self-taught artist who is currently working for an Indonesian app.

Her newest personal project, a series of digital illustrations titled ‘Nostalgia’ reflects both tangible and intangible entities; sights, smells, tastes and her memories of her home state. The frames foreground a young woman inked in deep cobalt, while things distinctly symbolic of Kerala such as palm leaf, fish and banana blossoms swirl in the background. Even though Susan has published only two prints so far from the series, they succinctly signify her artistic ethos, one that attempts to delve into and lay bare the complexities of female experiences. Another striking series of the same grain called ‘Women in art’ recreates few famous works of classical masters, including Leonardo da Vinci, Raja Ravi Varma, Sandro Botticelli and Johannes Vermeer in bright neon line sketches.

As someone who firmly believes in art that educates, bestows and forces people to ponder, Susan’s protagonists are primarily women, both nondescript and exceptional. She places them front and centre also as a way of drawing attentions to the travails faced by the women. “I believe women should be celebrated; women of all colours, classes, sizes and orientations.”

Having realised her penchant for branding, Susan poured her all in designing the logo for Dileesh Pothan and Syam Pushkaran’s Working Class Hero Productions as well as the digital entertainment platform Bhavana Studios. “The logo I made for Working Class Hero was received very well. Many Malayalam film industry stalwarts and designers I have been following for years appreciated my work. That of course boosted my confidence but I also recognised that branding is something I could contribute towards,” says the 29-year-old.

Apart from a few exciting freelance projects at hand, Susan plans to build on her women-centric artworks. She is currently working on a portrait series featuring some of her favourite female icons in history rendered in a pixelated woodcut print style. Find her @SoozayQ on Instagram