Artist Akhil Monu Mathew’s art is fuelled directly from his emotions. It may be political or extremely cute but with one glance, you can tell if he was feeling happy or in an uncontrollable fit of rage on the day he decided to create it. And in these recent times, the latter has been responsible for some of this Kottayam-native’s most inspired work.
On June 8, World Ocean’s Day, Akhil’s fury was directed at himself. Having read extensively about the state of Mother Nature in the post-COVID world, he realised that our efforts to keep the human race safe may be impacting the lives of many others. He says, “It’s a major concern for us. Even I am a culprit here, I may have also casually thrown a disposable mask out in public. And our waste continues to be harmful to animals, regardless of the circumstances. When I think of these small things, I feel bad and using it in my art is my feeble attempt to put an end to it.”
This hasn’t been the first instance where the pandemic has lent perspective to the artist. When the Coronavirus lockdown was first announced, he had created an infamous digital painting that represented the struggles of migrant labourers during the time. He recollects, “I was happy when the lockdown was announced. But it took a while for me to see some of the repercussions of it. I think time proved to us that it was unplanned and rolled out too quickly. And like it is with every such decision, it's the poor people who are suffering.”
The 32-year-old continues, “The worst part is that when this happened, people seemed to be angry at the victims! Isn’t it important to question the government when it is necessary? Those of us who are privileged are lucky enough to have jobs that we can do from our houses. But these people we are mocking are construction workers or labourers who have nowhere else to turn. Their last resort was to go back to their native places.”
With art, Akhil has figured out a way to press just the right buttons. Although social media has made insults and outrage the most understood language, he has discovered that a good work of art results in a little more of patient listening. “Art attracts fewer attacks than my opinions, in my experience. If I share a news article, people pounce. So this is me doing my part, venting out my frustrations whether it makes enough of an impact or not. I just need people to realise how lucky some of us are. When nobody attacks me for it, it’s a big deal these days!”
