It is a mysterious world of masks that artist Prasanna Velagala had created in her first solo exhibition at Muse Art Gallery. “All of us wear a mask everyday. It is an attempt to show what is underneath and behind the mask,” smiles Prasanna. As a software engineer-cum-artist, she divides her time between codes, canvases and colours. The East Godavari district native has been living in Hyderabad for four years and has been working in Infor Global Solutions. “I was drawn towards art and found colours a medium to express myself,” she says. However, she could not pursue art and instead studied B.Tech. Now, she makes her dream to paint come true. “Landscapes and portraits are regular themes. I believe in meaningful art and want to send a positive message through it,” she says. At the exhibition, the paintings of masks reveal a lot to the viewer. “The first thing that we do as soon as we wake up is wear a mask. Be it in our relations or with the people we meet in our personal or professional life, we put on a different face. We smile and greet people and have great conversations with them and hide our feelings behind the mask,” points out Prasanna.
Interestingly, she has used colours and shapes of the canvases for the masks after studying about them. “I did some research to understand the significance of colours and shapes and have used them accordingly,” she state, and elaborates, “If orange is for enthusiasm, green is for purity and blue stands for trust. In shapes, square means being reserved and circle signifies confusion. In a triangle-shaped face, if the base is flat, it means the person is stable but if it is conical, it means there is a lot of space to grow.”
Amidst the images of masks, there is an exhibit depicting the tree of life. The black colour at the base can hardly be missed. “This is tree of life which is balanced by a brighter and darker shade. Black stands for death. There might be a difference in the way people live. But in death, we are all equal,” she said.
Some masks on the canvas depict silent tales of the heart. “We might be in deep pain but we hide it from the world and put on a happy face. Even among couples, partners hide their suffering and put on a mask. The spouse may never know the amount of pain that the partner is going through,” smiles Prasanna.
