My Art Journey

I’ve been an artist for all my life. As a child, I learnt how to draw the Indian art called ‘Kolam’ or now globally known as ‘mandala’. I used to draw them on the floor of temples and my home for special prayer days and celebrations using rice flour and coloured rice. We used edible organic material as it’s meant to feed insects and birds.

People used to drive by our house during celebrations to see what I had created that year. I remember on the eve of Deepavali, our largest celebration, I would watch the special eve movie and sit down really late at night to start creating the special celebration kolams. Every year while my dad was alive, he would grumble but stay up waiting for me to finish. Mostly he would have dozed off but he would be there. Then he would spend the next few days guarding the kolam against being stepped on. These are my fondest memories of him.

In 2016, I moved to a new place and instantly knew I wanted a painting in this spot in the house. I wanted it to be yellow and tall. So I ended up painting this 1.5 m tall painting on paper. That sparked the return to art and the journey to find my art styles. In early 2017, I sold my first two artworks and by the end of 2017, I had my first solo art exhibition in a mall.

Looking to make a serious mark entry into the Malaysian art industry, I started approaching galleries and realised the hard way that, like everything else in Malaysia, Indians (who are a minority here) faced discrimination and racism. So I started studying the industry and applied for every opportunity I could find in Malaysia and overseas. As with everything in my country, you are only valued if you make a name internationally - and that was my game plan. In late 2018, I had my first international exhibition in Manila. I also organised two open call exhibitions for diverse emerging artists to give them opportunities that I knew were lacking.

Still working full-time to sustain my art dreams, I spent every break I could find in 2019 travelling for art exhibitions in Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Indonesia; Osaka, Japan and India. I got the opportunity to do a one-week residency in Udaipur, Rajasthan, Indian in December 2019 before heading to Mumbai for a pop-up exhibition in January 2020.

By the time I headed to India, I had been retrenched from my full-time job of seven years in public relations and was living on freelance jobs and savings.

When COVID hit us, I knew finding a job in an already discriminatory and racist job market would be nearly impossible. Every single application I sent out never got shortlisted. Our borders closing meant I wouldn’t be able to travel overseas either for exhibitions. I didn’t give up and continued sending out art applications. I ended up getting invited to an Art exhibition in Seoul, South Korea; Jakarta and a virtual exhibition showcased in Berlin, Germany in 2020.

In late September 2020, I stumbled on NFT Twitter and started reading up about NFTs. It all seemed foreign and it was so technical that I couldn’t figure out how to set up wallets from my country. So I continued closely following the progress and growth of the industry. When I was finally ready in May 2021, gas fees were skyrocketing. By then, I had lost my freelance jobs. So when ETH dropped in June, I immediately signed up. I had nothing to lose and wanted to show my art to the world. It also turned into an escape from the skyrocketing COVID cases in my state and the constant sounds of ambulances I would hear every day.

What I didn’t expect was how wonderful the community is. The appreciation I got for my art was mind-blowing! I made my first NFT sale 3 weeks later and by early August I knew this was where I wanted my art to be.

I didn’t want to be part of the toxic art community back home or the traditional art industry where we wouldn’t get secondary sale royalties. So I pulled out of six exhibitions including the second solo show I had been planning for nearly a year. People thought I was crazy but by then I knew the value of being an independent artist in the NFT art community. Within weeks I rose tremendously and the journey continues today.

My art wouldn’t be where it is today if it wasn’t for the wonderful NFT Community on Twitter. I have made so many friends and wonderful connections. I’ve also been able to collect so many artists art. One of the things I’ve made a point of doing is buying from new artists. I’m usually their first collector or first few. I’ve also started hosting a weekly Twitter space interview session to give artists a platform to speak about their art journey.

Thank you for being part of my journey and continuing to be part of it. You guys make my day every day. This is the beginning for many of us and I’m going to be right there with you. Thank you for everything.

The journey continues.

Love, 

Visithra