Where there is a will there is a way— that adage comes to mind when you meet Zena Colaco, a young artist from Mangalore.
When she was 13, her mother gave her a box of cookies. “It had attractive pictures. To surprise my mother, I drew it for her with some crayons and paint. That was my first work of art,” she gestures as her aunt translates for her. Zena is hearing impaired, but that has not stopped her from achieving her dreams.
This beautiful, young girl went on to complete her class 12, then did a course on fashion designing and animation. But it was paintings that drew her passion. She found it easy to express her feelings through various mediums.
Zena is now comfortable with oil paintings and also uses sand, plaster of Paris and works on wood and canvas at equal ease.
When she recognised that art was her first love, she trained with an artist in Mangalore and her uncle, an artist too, inspired her to paint.
Zena is in Bangalore for her first solo show. Titled “Sounds of Silence”, it will be on at Chitrakala Parishath from October 20 to 26. “The works in this collection are about the beauty of nature and how it is enhanced by the music that surrounds it. I see a musical symphony in nature. Everything is pre-ordained and moves according to the laws of nature. My world is also woman centric. I feel deeply for women who are exploited and I have brought out this aspect in some of my paintings. I feel a woman plays a very dominant role in shaping the world,” says Zena, who has also bagged some awards in Mangalore for her works.
She loves art and says that it helps her to “keep up a dialogue” with her friends regarding the “importance of any issue be it conserving nature, peace or anything under the sun”. You can also follow Zena on www.facebook.com/zena .colaco
