Reviews
This artist's profile was published in the March issue of "M" magazine in 2008.
WORLDS COLLIDE

Indian-born painter presents dualities of life on two continents through her art

Nirmal Raja understands what it means to be a stranger in a strange land. But at the same time, she also understands that even the unfamiliar - the mundane, even -- can be beautiful.
"I've always been drawn in by beauty," says Raja. "Growing up, I enjoyed beauty wherever I could find it. And that didn't change when I came to America."
The beauty that caught her eye? The humble dandelion.
"I thought they were just beautiful; I'd never seen them before," says the Mequon resident. "I thought people actually planted them. I didn't realize that dandelions were things that people didn't want in their yards."
As an inter-cultural artist, Raja's work explores the merging of the dualities and perspectives in her life: That which started during her childhood in India and that of her life here in America.
"I always enjoyed art classes in school and, as a child, I always wanted to draw and paint," she says. "Even to just create - that was something I liked to do."
The creative process wasn't just something that Raja learned through formal instruction. It was also a part of her home life. She learned traditional Indian sand painting, crochet and embroidery from her grandmothers.
But life as an artist, at least in India, was not in the cards for Raja.
"I grew up in a very traditional family, and to go to art school meant that I would need to live in a dormitory away from home," she remembers. "I did go to college, but I earned a degree in English Literature. I painted just for fun."
Raja's father worked as a banker, and the family moved every two to three years to a new post. As a young woman, Raja accompanied her family to South Korea and then to Hong Kong.
"South Korea was my first experience abroad," she says. "And I found Hong Kong to be an amazing place - it was the equivalent of going to New York City. I loved just walking around and experiencing the culture."
By this point, Raja was in her 20s, and as a daughter in a traditional family, things were going on behind the scenes: Her family was looking for a suitable husband.
Raja first became aware of the situation when she found an envelope in her father's car with American stamps and pictures of a young man from Milwaukee.
"I asked my dad about it and he said, 'we'll talk at home,'" she says. "It was always up to me whether I would go ahead with it or not after the screening and formal introduction. I've never regretted my decision; my husband is an amazing person."
Deciding to marry her husband, Sharath, also meant moving to America.
"While I did have friends in South Korea who were from Chicago, I really didn't have any idea what life in the United States was like," she says. "But moving here also appealed to my sense of adventure."
She spent her first few years in America simply absorbing her new culture.
"We lived in Chicago and I didn't drive, so my husband would drop me off on Michigan Avenue every morning and pick me up after work," she says. "I would go to the Art Institute of Chicago and the other museums, and take all the free docent tours. It was my first exposure to modern art, and I was surprised at how and why non-representational art moved me."
It was a change from what had inspired her in India. From a girl who had loved the beauty of the flowers on her family's altar, the paintings and sculptures from the temples her family visited and her grandmother's sand paintings.
Though Raja's life had changed immensely from that of her childhood, she never gave up her dream of becoming an artist. During the next 15 years, she pursued additional art instruction, first at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design where she ultimately returned and is now wrapping up her BFA, but also at the Maryland Institute College of Art and the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia.
"It was always important to me to keep the artist part of me alive," she says. "I knew there would be a time in my life when I could be an artist."
As she's moved on that journey, her art has also changed.
'I like to explore the concept of duality in my work," she says. "I am fascinated by minimal color fields as I am with intricate patterns and finely rendered images."
Interest in Raja's work and perspective has started to grow. In 2007, her work appeared in five local group shows as well as her first solo show, "In Between" at the Waukesha State Bank Gallery at the Waukesha Civic Theater.
"The interest comes at the right time for me," she admits. "I'm now confident in my work and I think there's a certain maturity to it."
More recently, she's also focused on a special project for her senior thesis at MIAD, with the assistance of Michael Howard and Fahimeh Vahdat, as well as her mentor Dara Larson.
The project, however, is far more than academic for Raja.
"I wanted to introduce the element of time and change to my work, which is difficult when you paint," she explains. "And I've always been interested in the lives of the Indian grandmothers who have come to America."
These women have spent a major part of their lives here disconnected not just from their past but from American culture. Through her research, Raja has discovered that there is very little sociological, anthropological and artistic documentation about these women.
"I'm listening to audio interviews of these grandmothers and painting their stories," she says. "As I paint, I'm photographing my work and turning it into a multimedia presentation."
The end result explores the duality of their lives, the in-between-ness that Raja identifies with. It also deals with the equally serious subjects of discrimination and isolation, which Raja feels comes from ignorance.
"Overall, I hope that my art can have an effect, that it can change people's perspectives and opinions," she says. "If even one person can walk away changed, then I've accomplished what I've set out to do."