Murali Nagapuzha

Lush greenery, little butterflies dancing on greenishyellow leaves, bees sucking on a blooming lotus, the haunting quiescence of an ancestral home ... artist Muraly Nagapuzha's paintings seek to touch and awaken long forgotten childhood memories and tempt you with the bewitching beauty of nature.

For all of us caught in the web of city life, where young ones are more at ease fiddling with gadgets than spotting a caterpillar, the collection on display at the Kasthuri Sreenivasan Trust Culture Centre on Avanashi Road will make you pause, re-wind and recollect those summer holidays at your grandmother's house spent chasing an unruly calf or wading through slush to pluck out that half-open lotus.

"Nature is a predominant theme in my paintings. I come from a village in Kerala where life is about small things, the butterfly and the cows, of children playing hide and seek and going fishing. It is the simplicity of village life which I have tried to capture here," says the artist about his eighth solo show.

`Colours of Joy' besides traversing the charms of the country, also portrays struggles, like Nagapuzha's Tirunelli series. The virgin beauty of Tirunelli and the identity of the adivasis, which cannot be severed from their land, is poignantly captured in some of his paintings.

Another subject close to the artist is children, who are his inspiration as well as theme. "Children fascinate me and these paintings are, to a certain extent, aimed at them. They need to be initiated to the minute facets of nature," says Nagapuzha, whose childhood and dream series takes us into the world of winged angels, colourful flowers and fancy flights.

The artist, who is inspired by the legendary Bhupen Kakkar, also makes a flight into fantasy with his sleep and myth series. Nagapuzha has tried to weave legends and tales into his paintings on fantasy. Also on display is the floral series as well as portraits of tribal women.

"In this age of universalisation, I wish to highlight ethnicity, our specific identity and our culture," he says.

ANIMA BALAKRISHNAN (edited)

It's August of 1931 in Singapore,

Sixteen-year-old Lim Mei Mei (Ah Mei) arrives at the home of Eminent Mister Lee on the eve of the Hungry Ghost Month. She has been sold to the family as a mui tsai, an indentured servant girl. At the Lee household, Lim Mei Mei's life education begins. There she encounters the spirit of Ah Lian, a mui tsai, who paid the ultimate price for her mistake. Through Ah Lian, Ah Mei discovers the plight of mui tsai, who are both helpless and powerful, and uncovers a shameful secret lurking in the shadows in the Lee house. Ah Mei also meets and falls in love with Hassan Mohamed, an IndianMuslim and an aspiring poet, breaking every clause in the rule book of love in 1930s British Malaya. She becomes Hassan's Polar Star, and the young lovers must find a way to stay together. Through a twist of fate, Ah Mei finds a solution that will keep her and Hassan together, at the same time gaining agency that will secure her own future as an uneducated servant girl in British Malaya.

Eva Wong Nava was born on a tropical island where a merlion spurts water. Her ancestors braved monsoon winds sailing from the Middle Kingdom to British Malaya to plant roots in Southeast Asia. When the winds changed, her relatives sailed again and found another home somewhere in the western hemisphere, braving snow storms and hail.

She combines degrees in English Literature and Art History, and writes stories that explore identity, culture, and belonging by adding a dash of magic. Eva has done many things in life, like banking and teaching, but writing remains her most favourite thing to do. She has written an award-winning middle-grade novel (Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, 2018) and several fiction and non-fiction picture books. Eva has been a speaker at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content on writing diverse books and representing marginalised voices. She has performed and spoken to parents and children in the United Kingdom, Australia, France, and Singapore.