London’s vibrant regeneration: art installations and poetry by Sheila Malhotra
By James Brewer
Friday, January 28, 2022, was like a new dawn to Sheila Malhotra when she picked up a newspaper in London, with the headline ‘Millions return to public transport: 3.2m people used London buses.’
What heartening news it was for this dedicated artist, following month after weary month of pandemic restrictions!
Then she went back in her mind to 2020 and reflected on a poignant poem she wrote in May of that year, at the height of the pandemic.
She says: “During my morning walk when people were limited to staying close to home, I crossed three bus stops. Each was empty. There was a time when these bus stops had so many commuters waiting. Along came a double-decker bus but it did not stop. There were no commuters. Most humans seemed to have hidden in their shells. A touching scene which made me pour my heart out on my mobile, and by the end of my walk I had composed this poem:
LONDON YEAR 2020!
LONE BUSES –EMPTY ROADS
Forlorn they ply!
Not a soul in sight
Bus stops are empty
Their benches denied.
No humans!
Where have they gone?
Have they all connived
To go on a long strike,
Or some virus has struck them?
The driver seems lonely,
But with his duty he must comply.
He greets with a broad smile
The lone passenger
Who happens to come by!
Why are the roads empty?
After all it’s just 2020,
The millennium’s second decade!
Where have people fled?
Or have they succumbed
To the deadly virus,
Which has only just begun?
The cheer of yesteryear
Seems missing!
What has gone wrong?
In the years gone by,
Most were just jostled around.
There was no space to walk
No fresh air to breathe.
But today!
There is space to walk,
Fresh air to breathe,
But no humans around!
To enjoy this great feast.
Will come one day, a fairy
From far-off fairyland?
And with her magic wand
Shower life again.
Will folks be jostled around?
Will little children play?
And with their noisy screams,
Break the silence of today.
Understanding the global trauma of the pandemic has inspired further creativity from Sheila, who has exhibited her ingenious paintings and collages in many shows in London and Mumbai. The new work comprises two installations: DEGENERATION 2020 and REGENERATION 2021.
She explained: “During the 2020 lockdown when everything seemed to be degenerating, when doctors and nurses were on their feet day and night looking after the seriously ill and dying patients, when frontline workers were exhausted, and there was all-round turmoil, I started this diptych.
“In the first case (with DEGENERATION 2020) there was a feeling of hopelessness, of dejection and despair because the pandemic had affected lives of millions around the world. I created this installation by burning and twisting a blender and placing it on top of a box with other accompaniments around the box – masks, gloves, PPE, and the like.
“In the second case (with REGENERATION 2021) I had hoped that the world would become normal again, so I used colourful kites to depict my feelings. I have made these cheerful kites with silk and brocade material and decorated with embellishment. On the floor I displayed paper kites.
“While I continued to work, the vaccine and its roll-out developed. My installation became a symbol of victory against the lethal pandemic. It became a tribute to the scientists, doctors, and all those who risked their lives to save ours.”
Sheila grew up in a land-locked state of India and studied fine arts after graduating. Her works include the series The World through a Porthole, conceived when she sailed the oceans accompanying her husband Sutikshan, who commanded merchant ships during his distinguished career. For her the porthole was the liberating link between the ship’s cabin and the world outside, giving flight to the soul itself.
She says: “During my childhood, I had never seen the sea. Yet today my family is deeply connected to the shipping world. My son is following the maritime inspiration of my husband, as he works in the City for the insurer Standard Club, and I of course am connected as an artist: painting the Porthole series is my forte.”
The couple’s son, Sudhir Malhotra, is a senior surveyor with Standard. A master mariner with 14 years’ seagoing experience on containerships and passenger vessels, he went on to work in consultancy for London Offshore Consultants and as a marine superintendent and quality manager for a top Japanese shipping line before joining Standard.
Over years Sheila has made a range of paintings, from the very lively to the deeply thought-provoking.
In her Playing with the Millennia series, she has used turn-of-the-century editions of original UK newspapers, thus preserving ‘time itself’ on her canvases.
“There is a distinct continuity of thought in many of my paintings over the years,” says Sheila.
• The Titanic’s weathered portholes, threadbare with the passage of time, often appear in my paintings
• Not forgetting man’s relationship with the environment, I have painted subjects like ‘Pollution at Sea’ where beautiful colours of refracted light falling on an oil spill carry with it the evil of polluting the sea.
• Some dramatic paintings made in the 1990s are of a floating city on an iceberg. Having polluted cities, mankind would be forced to take refuge at sea. If man polluted the sea, then the iceberg would detonate and wipe out civilisation.
Outside her studio work, Sheila is a road safety campaigner: an active supporter of Brake, a UK safety charity, and in India the charity Save Life Foundation which has a parallel mission.
For more of Sheila’s writing, please read here .-
