THE ESSENCE OF EXISTENCE
With this work, I wanted to say that in every person’s face, one can see one’s own face. And that no individual is complete in themselves. Only when we see ourselves in others, can we feel a sense of completion, a sense of becoming whole.
Each of the portraits has something hidden, signifying the endearing imperfections in each of us. I wanted to convey that perfection is in realizing our unity with the whole of humanity, not in any individual person. I used charcoal for its rawness, its honesty, the ease with which it allows me to transfer my energy onto paper, and for its ability to effortlessly give depth and create shadow.
Labdhi Shah is a self-taught artist based in Ahmedabad, India. She specializes in finger-painted art works created from intuition without any reference or pre-sketch, distilling the purest expression of her emotion into her art. Art seeks to convey the truth of the human experience, in all its complexity. Her effort as an artist is to share the faith she has in the capacity of love, and to accept the uniqueness of every human being irrespective of race, color, gender, and culture. She works with watercolor, acrylic, charcoal, chalk and ink.
Her participatory art installation on the theme of love, titled ‘Rainbow of emotions’ was featured at the Abhivyakti Art Festival 2020. Her work has been featured in numerous art magazines around the world, and has been exhibited virtually at: “Collective Impact”, A Light in the darkness, and Art in Adversity. Her work is currently on view at “Hope – Revolution” in the Stay Home Gallery, Paris, TN, USA.
An economist, a clinical psychologist, and an art therapist by training, her passions include traveling and studying human complexity.