Rajul Shah

“The colour red represents our identity, where we come from and where we belong.”

As an artist, I want to encourage people to see healing as a positive process, and I communicate this idea visually. I worked in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry for 20 years before becoming an artist. During this time, I gained insight into human suffering and the importance of hope for healing–hope as a positive driving force leading to physical and psychological healing is the guiding principle of my work.

My working methods grew very organically from studying different techniques in East Asian and European art. This background allows me to choose different methods and techniques. Perhaps this is why I like to work with many different mediums–whether photography or painting, colour or black and white, figurative or abstract, I let the idea guide the work. The artwork demands the materials and techniques that manifest its message. I, therefore, do not define myself as a landscape artist, figurative artist or abstract artist–I define myself as an artist who visualises the process of healing. The colours that stand out in my works are very consciously chosen. They represent the energies of the chakras. For example, the first chakra, Muladhara–our root chakra, has an aura colour of red. It symbolises our tribe, our identity, where we come from and where we belong.

One of my works, “The Kintsugi Body”, is inspired by Japanese Kintsugi art; here, a broken clay vessel is repaired with tree resin and gold splicing. Now restored, the object is a work of art. Such themes and ideas consistently run through my work and are representative of what I hope to achieve.

I strongly believe in the connection between emotional and physical well-being, and my work reflects this belief.