woman Vietnam

Renaissance woman - Vietnam

Nguyen Ong meets a painter who is dedicated to helping those less fortunate in life as well as developing her art .
Vara Lakshmi Jonnalagadda remembers drawing as a kid. She often watched her older sister, who was a painter, while she was working and tried to imitate her actions. But that was just kids stuff, no more. As she grew up, she had no time for art with so much study to do for school. This childhood hobby would be forgotten, at least for a while.

One day, years later, Lakshmi showed her husband a painting she had just made in her free time and he was taken aback. “I didn’t know that you could draw,” he said. So what sparked this renaissance? A trip to Bangalore no less. There, deeply persuaded by the beauty of the city, she felt her imagination was stirred, and succumbed to her inner muse.

“This is exactly where the art in me was indeed born,” she recalls. Since then Lakshmi has simply painted when she can. She is entirely self-taught and has no regrets that she has never taken a professional course in painting. “I do not want to be influenced by anyone, or any school of art,” she says. At first she was self-conscious, perhaps too proud. She always wanted each painting to be well received.

If people weren’t moved by her picture she would try to find out the reason why, perhaps so she could cater for absolutely everyone’s taste. Now, she realises the most important thing is her opinion. “The point is: do I like it or not?” says Lakshmi. She has determinedly forged her artistic path and created her own style. Lakshmi believes people “who see her paintings will know that they are hers.”

She is also wholeheartedly supported by her husband and family as she pursues this passion of hers. “I have a wonderful husband, he understands my work, my desire, my love for painting; he is very cooperative, it’s difficult to find a man like that in the world.” Currently Lakshmi is combining Indian and Vietnamese influences.

Her latest piece uses, “Indian colour on a Vietnamese map with the poem Que Huong (Motherland) in calligraphy.” Her paintings focus on nature and people, her two sources of inspiration. “I love to draw anything that gives me a calming effect,” she explains. She is also determined to “capture” certain scenes she hopes to make permanent.

“‘Capture’ does not mean copy, but sketch it according to my feeling and imagination,” explains Lakshmi. At her exhibition in Idecaf in 2007 every single painting was sold. The money raised went entirely towards charity, the Nguyen Dinh Chieu School for the Blind in particular. Spurred on by her passion for art and natural sense of charity, she will continue to use her talent to help those less fortunate than herself.

These days, Lakshmi is holding art workshops in Nguyen Dinh Chieu and Thao Dien School. The workshops teach the children how to draw and how to make greeting cards. She intends to print the children’s pictures onto ceramic pieces and introduce them at a charity event of a well-known Department Store later this year. When asked which painting she likes best, Lakshmi says that there are four paintings that she is most proud of.

The first one is named In my little garden, and was painted by 22 students with Down Syndrome at Thao Dien school. The other three were made by visually-impaired students from Nguyen Dinh Chieu School. Two were made by the Low vision group and one was made the blind group.

“It was really a hard job, but with lots of patience and determination, they finally did it,” says Lakshmi beaming with pride. These four paintings amongst others were on auction at the Hue Festival this year to raise money for children with heart disease. “It really touches my heart to see my lovely children make these paintings to help other unlucky friends,” says Lakshmi.

(Source:VIR)

Tag: Exhibition , Festival , Hue , Hue Festival , Paintings , Vietnam , Vietnamese

Renaissance woman - Vietnam

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