Gia Bhalla

A Colourful Fabric

A Colourful Fabric is a painting of a traditional fabric called a chunni, which is a part of a traditional outfit. The background is inspired by a Hindu festival, Holi, which is known as the festival of colours to celebrate the love of the Hindu God, Krishna and Radha. We celebrate this holiday by dancing and throwing coloured powder at each other, and this is one of the bigger celebrations we do have. I did want this to be represented by the different colours in the background and on the fabric, as well as adding a traditional earring hanging onto the fabric.

Inspiration

The biggest inspiration for my artworks is my Indian roots. I was born and raised in Canada for my whole life, and I don’t get to visit India as often as I would like. Living in Canada my whole life, I was never really able to experience many cultural celebrations in India such as Diwali and Holi. This piece, with its bright and vibrant colours in the background and on the fabric, was inspired by Holi, which is the celebration of colours.

Biography

I am a second-year Visual Studies major, and I would like to pursue architecture in the future. I have been painting and drawing since I was three years old and have had a passion for art ever since. Growing up, I was never able to take any art classes in schools due to being in TLC, which wouldn’t allow us to take art. Once I was in high school, I chose to take all my science classes over art, so I was unable to take art until my last semester of Grade 12. I have been mainly self-taught and have experimented with various mediums such as graphite, charcoal, pastel, acrylic and oil paints – with my favourite medium being acrylic due to my love of painting.