Beyond the Canvas: Avni Shah captures the spirit of Kenyan life

Shela village on Lamu Island by Avni Shah at her solo show ‘Beyond the Canvas’at Village Market on July 1, 2023. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG

Avni Shah gave herself a serious challenge at the dawn of the Covid-19 pandemic in early 2020.

As if she knew it was going to be a long haul, she decided, rather than lapse into boredom, depression or despair, she would lift up her light on the easel and canvas, and get down to work creating 100 paintings to be completed by the end of the pandemic.

“I knew I wouldn’t do it if I wasn’t consistent and constant in my efforts,” Avni told the BDLife on the opening night of her solo exhibition at the Village Market entitled ’Beyond the Canvas’.

Zebra by Avni Shah at Village Market in her solo exhibition on July 1, 2023. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG

One could easily see, upon entry into her show last Friday night(June 30, 2023) that she had achieved her goal. But she said she stood corrected after a friend found two more of her paintings, making the complete count 102.

Curating her exhibition with assistance from her fellow artist, Evans Ngure, Avni grouped her paintings according to their content.

Several abstract pieces got strewn among almost every topic. Yet she covered so many aspects of Kenya during those three years that her abstract art gets lost amidst the realistic and impressionistic works that she carefully chronicled.

In fact, she covered everything from flowers, the Big Five, and birds of all types to architecture, boats, and the Maasai. She also painted wildebeest in migration and old dhows in the Coastal region.

Speaking to her husband Mayur who seemed just as energized and enthusiastic about her art, he told the BDLife his family loved accompanying her around the country.

“I wasn’t surprised to see so many paintings of historic places in her show. We were there with her as she sketched and photographed places like the Old Town in Mombasa and flamingos in Elementaita,” he said.

Avni’s good friend, Maguri Dodhia also shared her thoughts on the exhibition. “Avni’s art makes me feel as if I’m on safari with her. She puts the spirit of the place into her paintings,” she said.

It is true that landscapes and iconic places are important features in her art. Some in watercolour as in her ‘Mombasa Old Town Shoreline’; others are in oil on canvas as in her view of Mount Kenya.

But the majority of her works are in acrylics on canvas. Like many artists, she said she likes acrylics because they dry much more quickly than oils.

Avni didn’t start challenging herself to be a fine artist the other day. She initially was inspired to study with the British artist Keith Harrington who gave her the basic skills to set her off on a journey that took her first to study fine art at the JJ School of Art in Mumbai.

It’s from there that she received a diploma in Art Education, enabling her to teach all ages in art, from five-year-olds all the way up to students in secondary school and beyond.

Avni Shah at the opening of her solo exhibition at Village Market on July 1, 2023. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG

But today, she is a full-time artist who’s in love with her colour palette as works like ‘Mathioya Express’, ‘Street Maize Roasters’, and ‘The Plunge’ of wildebeests during the migration all attest.

In fact, many of her works have a luminosity of light that reflects a rainbow prism-like effect. That effect is in part resultant from the many layers of paint that she lays down as she strives to achieve both a deepened texture as well as colouration to her art.

One area of her painting that filled several panels of her show was dedicated to what she calls ‘contemporary art’. It’s in the arena of transportation, the means by which most Kenyans get around town and countryside.

Those means include everything from the country bus and big bus matatu to boda boda motorcycles, and ordinary bicycles.

There are also plenty of walkers, for instance, the women on the way to market loaded with babies on their backs and baskets either on their heads or draped over their heads and backs.

Avni is clearly a keen observer of everyday Kenyan life which her art reflects not only from a realistic point of view but impressionistically and in abstract terms as well.

Her paintings have been shown all over Europe and exhibited in Kenya consistently.

Hornbills by Avni Shah at Village Market in her solo exhibition on July 1, 2023. PHOTO | MARGARETTA WA GACHERU | NMG

It was her guest of honour, the financial analyst, economics columnist, and fellow artist Ritesh Barot who fondly observed the way she “paints with a ferocity which comes with years of experimenting with colours and canvas.”

He also described her as “a highly competent, incredibly skilled artist,” a description to which I also concur.

Avni’s exhibition runs until July 10, 2023, at Village Market.

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