Munya's work 'Fragile Resilience' at Unveiling Visions 24
First, she dazzled us with a portrait of a girl and her hundred cats. Then came a sleek, jazz-age ensemble of women engaged in mundane acts. And now, at the ongoing Unveiling Visions exhibition at the National Art Gallery, she’s wowed us again with a remarkable canvas showing slender limbs grasping, fumbling, and searching for ‘womanly’ objects.
This one-time engineering student is a self-taught artist, painting and drawing since her early childhood. At just 17, she tackles multiple subjects with the confidence of a much older artist – she is bold, her vision is utterly captivating, and her technique is exceptional for such a young person. And it can only get better. So, let’s dive right into it.
Korali: I thought you were trying to highlight the spiritual vacuity of modern life, its obsession with objects that never fulfill you as a person, as a woman even. The artist understands this but is unable to free herself from it.
Munya: I see how you might think that.
Korali: This piece seems to have a thematic connection with your exhibit at the Fab Art Show – with bored-looking women and their things – they seemed totally out of sync with themselves, I mean I kind of got that impression.
Munya: Haha, yeah there’s some crossover, I think. And I did intend to convey boredom in that scene.
Korali: I guess the women’s boredom comes from having objects and lives that don’t connect with them spiritually.
Munya: Sure, that makes sense.
Korali: Also, I want to say your works are extremely ambitious, there’s always a lot of characters, a lot going on. And you take risks knowing there’ll be imperfections. How do you get the confidence to do it though?
Munya: I just go for it, honestly. I like to put in as many objects as possible in my paintings to give people more to like. So, even if they don’t like a particular part of my painting, they might like another bit of it. If I’m lucky, haha. But more than that, I love the chaos and being able to experiment with a lot of objects. Negative space makes me feel like a painting is incomplete, if that makes sense.
Korali: Yeah, it really does in the context of your work. So, what artists do you consider the most significant in the development of your style so far?
Munya: I’d say Caravaggio. His use of light and shadow especially. I don’t think any other artist has really influenced my style as much.
Korali: Awesome, how did you come across him?
Munya: It was while doing some research for school and I really loved his style.
Korali: Your lighting is more even though than Caravaggio’s.
Munya: Haha, yeah, I like to play around with lighting.
Korali: I really like the warm-to-cool gradient in the painting.
Munya: Thank you. I didn’t notice it for some time [while painting] actually.
Korali: How does that happen?
Munya: I realised it a bit later on. But it looked very appealing, so I went on with it though it was a bit difficult to pull off.
Korali: What did you think of it when you were done?
Munya: I really liked it, but I left some details out. Not sure if they are visible to most, but I can still see them.
Munya's piece at the Fabulous Art Show held earlier this year.
Korali: Who critiques your work?
Munya: My mother – she studied art in secondary school. She’d tell me if the anatomy feels off for example, or if there’s something wrong with how I’m painting reality. And she’d tell me if some parts don’t make sense to her, too.
Korali: I really have to ask this next question: how do you see the world?
Munya: That’s a big question. It’s a bit depressing and bleak but what I notice most about the world is nature, scenery. Basically anything I can use to make art, or anything that would look good recorded on a screen. Anything with potential.
Korali: Do you have plans to study art academically?
Munya: I’m trying to get into uni, looking at the Malaysian Institute of Arts currently.
Korali: Oh best of luck with that. Anything else you’d like to add before we wrap it up?
Munya: I really want people to interpret my work on their own and I love to hear how they make sense of it.
Korali: Thanks a lot Munya, can’t wait to see more of your work.
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