Cooking up the creative juice

KOCHI:  One of Rebecca Rechana Paul’s most powerful works depict Virgin Mary giving birth. A bloody mess, her face portrays excruciating agony, as she is engulfed by the pain of creation. “The Bible has always illustrated Mary as a symbol of absolute forgiveness and piety; she is sketched to be calm, revelling in her happiness post-birth. But we have no significant imagery of her through the process. Hence I decided to visualise the same,” says the 25-year-old Kochi native, currently pursuing her post-graduation in Animation Film Design from National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

The artist-illustrator likes to have a finger in every pie. Under the Instagram handle @etho_oruthi, she posts hard-hitting and fun freelance commissioned work, including storyboards for movies, posters, concept art and her personal projects en route to improvement, according to her. As the @apolitical idiot, she illustrates the foibles of the world’s largest democracy, along with her partner Aju George. Recently, Rebecca began @po_pa, handmade and mindful stationery, with another NID student Vishnu Dev.

Having completed her Bachelors in Architecture from the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, Rebecca immediately shifted her brushes and focused on animation. “I’ve always been intrigued by different mediums of art. Soon after I finished studying architecture, I found animation thrilling. The idea of seeing your pictures come to life is astonishing,” says Rebecca.

Her Instagram handle is a repertoire of a fascinating mind at work. Her ‘Chyeeku’ comes to life there too, as an adorable cartoon character, later characterised as a larger-than-life persona through her merchandise. There are supposedly practice sketches of lush valleys and ordinary lives. Plein air paintings completed during dawns add an element of close reality.

In comparison, Rebecca as the apolitical idiot, her brainchild of satire, takes potshots at our leaders. “Once I got my basics with chiaroscuro right, I wanted to try every medium possible. Memes have been perfect in conveying the most complicated ideas with ease. Considering the current affairs, I thought it was the right time to talk about politics in a satirical manner through my comics,” she says.

What about ‘Popa’? “In the film ‘Udayananu Thaaram’, there is a certain dialogue on goods being aggregated like ‘porattayum pappadavum’. Vishnu and I would make plenty of hand-bound books which would start getting accumulated around the place. Hence the name. I’ve always been a staunch believer in upcycled materials — from clothes to the stationery I use.

‘Popa’ is not a  profit-oriented venture. Rather, it is one that produces the kind of products I would regularly use. Under the brand, I sold calendars featuring animated versions of my niece ‘Chyeeku’. These calendars could also be purposed as postcards. Sketchbooks and artist pouches, replete with my designs, form the other products,” she adds.