–Using creativity to promote awareness on women issues

KEISHA Beharry is just 17 years old and a first-year student at the University of Guyana (UG), but her passion for the arts is at its peak, and even higher is her belief that as a young female, she can use her artistic ability to better represent women in society.
Beharry recently joined nine other talented UG art students who showcased their work at the Umana Yana, Kingston, under the theme “Aspects of Perception: The Renaissance”.
The one-week exhibition was staged through the University’s Faculty of Education and Humanities and featured several female art students who eloquently captured the audience with mind-blowing artwork that depicted women in various forms.

Beharry exhibited 10 pieces of her work including a series of clay sculptures that represented the strength of woman and the gender’s maternity transformation.
“The series was actually inspired by my mom and my sister-in-law, who recently got a baby. My sister-in-law was pregnant for the latter part of 2015 and early 2016, and I observed a whole lot of changes in her during and after that time. So, my series captured that aspect of how a woman’s life changes to become a mother, and the strength it takes to love, care and protect another human being more than yourself,” Beharry said of her exhibit.

The young art student, who is currently pursuing a two-year Associate of Fine Arts programme, said she was always fascinated with drawing and paintings, but started advancing her artistic creativity during secondary school when she wrote Visual Arts at CSEC. Beharry worries that as a young woman, her creativity is being downplayed and that the work of female artists is not treated seriously as that of their male counterparts.
“There are not a lot of women artists who are recognised and I feel it is my duty to overcome this and use my art to represent women and to be successful as an artist. Universally, women are expected to be sensitive and emotional with the ability to understand things deeply, and as a young woman I believe I can use my artistic ability to connect with people on a wider scale to create awareness of women and women issues,” Beharry said.

She added, “Art is all about emotions and it is something that is relevant and important and very much needed by society because it has the ability to captivate people and remind them to feel and ultimately it can motivate them to change.”

Exposure and motivation
Beharry said she is grateful for the exposure she received at the exhibition and this would further motivate her creativity. To date, she has created 30 different pieces of artwork including photographs, paintings, drawings and sculptures with clay, wood glue and wire-mesh.

Nineteen-year-old Chelsea Ramotar is another young art student who intrigued a lot of viewers at the exhibition with her pieces including several paintings depicting women in the nude form. There were also paintings that portrayed childhood and the innocence associated with that stage of life.
“I gained a great deal of exposure at the exhibition because I had never before shown people my work and I was pleased with the response. People were a bit shocked at some of my work and they said it was different but they liked it. I look forward to freelancing in Guyana and other countries in the future, and hope to exhibit more of my work,” Ramotar stated.

Originally from New Amsterdam, Berbice, Ramotar is a third year Bachelor of Arts (Fine Arts) student who developed a love for art from a tender age. As she grew older, she researched emerging techniques and uses inspiration from things around her and from the internet.
She explained that while it is not intentional, a lot of her artwork portrays a feminine touch and this has been observed by some of her peers and teachers.
“As a young woman, I believe I am more in touch with certain gender issues and I can therefore relate better to other people,” the art student said.

Domestic violence
Another female art student whose work stood out dominantly during the recent showing is Alvina Naughton, a young wife and mother originally from Victoria, East Coast Demerara. Her work, included paintings, clay sculptures and mixed-media collages that powerfully represented the issue of violence against women in the most visual form.
“I have been deeply troubled in the recent years by this upsurge in domestic violence and that is why my art focuses on women who I believe have been marginalised by men and while the Ministry and other organisations have brought awareness to the issue, I still think there is something missing and I feel my work can help to bring more awareness to this scourge,” Naughton noted.

One of her mixed-media collages done for course work in class titled ‘I am woman,’ Naughton specifically dedicated to women who have been maimed by their spouses. It depicts an armless woman and includes newspapers clippings and pictures of scores of women whose cases were reported in the press.
“Some of these women are murdered by their spouses and in those cases, there is a finality but what about those who have been maimed and have to continue living without the vital parts of their body? Around the time I did this piece, a woman had her arm chopped off by her husband and her story kept coming back to me, so this piece is symbolic of that particular issue,” the student artist observed.

In a sculpture series, she used unbaked clay to aid the portrayal of women in the most fragile and natural form as she highlights the challenges women face while in abusive relationships and the strength and courage they adopt to free themselves from such situations.
After living abroad for a few years, her family returned to Guyana and Naughton is currently pursuing a Bachelors of Arts (Fine Arts) at the University of Guyana.
“My work is mainly focused on women, who I believe are dynamic human beings. We are resilient, beautiful, fragile and vulnerable all at the same time and more importantly because I think women are the backbone of our society,” Naughton highlighted.

In her exhibit, final year student, Aelisha Garnett-Williams represented women in several paintings, sculpting and textile mediums.
“My artwork depicts organic forms and colours of nature. They reflect the life of women and their harmonious connection to nature. Flowers are my main source of imagery, since I feel they soothe the mind and create a feeling which I feel represents the woman,” stated Garnett-Williams.
The recent exhibition also featured female student artists such as Sandra La Roque, Violet Holder and Tonya Williams.