Eleina Banik

During my stay in Europe a major change in history took place. The ethnic Albanians were thrown out of their homes in Kosovo as if they were mere objects that could be shifted from one place to another. I felt insecure not only as a foreigner in Europe, but also as an inhabitant of this earth and as a woman too."During her visits overseas, Eleena Banik realised that oppression of women was not exclusive to India. It was prevalent the world over, though in different forms. She attempted to express this oppression through a series of paintings revolving around cardboard boxes. "I have seen documentation of feminist art movements in Europe and America, which affected my mind. I started painting on the cardboard boxes that are containers of objects as well as objects in themselves that can be lifted, moved from one place to another, or can just be thrown away."As a student of Santiniketan, Eleena believed she was close to nature. So when she moved to Kolkata after completing her art education, the industrialised city presented a strong contrast. Thus, instead of her usual landscapes, she began painting objects used in daily life like a telephone receiver or pots and pans that she identified with the life of an ordinary woman. "A road roller in some of my paintings could mean male domination in society," says Eleena. "Even the telephone is much more than the communicator?s handy tool. It is a symbol of life itself. It controls my cries, my whispers, my joys and my sorrows. This receiver that we hold every now and then and this simple act of dialing are rich in sensual undertones."Interestingly, her latest works have been a series she is done on kites, that Eleena says "fascinates me and through which I could express the changing urban India." The human eye too, is a frequent symbol in her works and it sometimes replaces the head of a female figure. Eleena uses it as a sensuous element, something which is beautiful but which constantly moves and also gets easily irritated and sheds tears."While I was at the Glasgow School of Art," says Eleena, "the view outside the studio was rather bleak. This led me to use bright and often contrasting colours, be it in objects or landscapes." The sunflower that symbolises sunlight, the elephant and the butterfly are also frequently symbols in her works.?Often, she applies pigment on the canvas in thick rough strokes. While some of her works are in oil on canvas and paper, others are in acrylic on P.V.C. sheet. While her initial works were monochromatic, she now uses burning yellows and raw reds.?"My inspiration stems from something mundane to something majestic --- like a boiling kettle, steam releasing from a pressure cooker or a fire extinguisher, to myths, fairy tales, films and music."Eleena Banik lives and works out of Calcutta.