Faculty of Art

Drawing and Painting

Aneel Vyas

Queer Joy and Self-Love: Make-Up

Utilizing painting, collage and film as an archival method, I am preserving moments of joy that are experienced through gestures of self-love. Being South-Asian and LGBTQ+ minority, mending trauma stemming from oppression and diaspora catalyses this body of work. Queer Joy and Self-Love aims to encourage viewers to develop a relationship with self-love and self-care practices.

“This painting titled “Make-up” is part of the body of artwork called “Queer Joy and Self-Love”. The painting showcases a self-care practice of enjoying the pleasures of applying make-up and taking the time to admire the things we appreciate about ourselves rather than turning to scrutiny. I am showcasing the featured individual’s encounter with self-care and how it strengthens their ability to understand the small actions in life that contribute to their resilience and hope. Since self-love can be interpreted as a spiritual act, spirituality and religion such as Hinduism inspired the colour palette. The figure in the painting is connected with their inner self, wisdom, and joy which are viewed as attributes of God, therefore blue is incorporated in the skin tone as Hindu gods are depicted having blue complexion. Purple is another colour used liberally in my painting. It represents the Crown Chakra within religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism, and is linked to spiritual connection and transformation. It describes awakening oneself to their divinity. I view self-love as connecting with the divine as it allows one to accept themselves for who they truly are.To create this painting, I documented this self-care practice through film and photographs. I digitally painted over the photographs in Photoshop. This hybrid photo-painting was then converted into prints. I chose such an elaborative approach to mimic the long, slow, meditative, and dedicative process of cultivating and nurturing a self-love practice.”