The word mandala translates to ‘circles’ or ‘centre’. Filled with circular patterns and geometrical lines, it’s the intricacy and detail work that brings life to this art form. The centre is usually represented as the beginning in the form of a dot. Lines and circles are drawn in patterns around this dot.

When our minds get chaotic, mandalas are a great solution. When our own we cannot figure things out, this art form helps. Creating mandalas helps us find some order in life. The symbolization and meanings of a mandala are very vast. In fact, mandala itself is like an object of meditation. While in the Buddhist tradition, mandalas symbolize enlightenment, the Hindu tradition focuses more on the self-realization.  

Mandala lets us tell our story – mental, emotional and spiritual – of wellbeing. There are many different types of mandalas. All have their own specific characteristics. It’s about symbolizing elements from your life and understanding the connection between all living things – inner and outer realities. It allows us to understand our own path, where we stand, our thoughts.

Mandala Art is actually a huge part of art therapy. Creating mandalas is both symbolic and therapeutic. Also, mandalas help reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Both painting and colouring mandalas will give you a sense of calm. It’ll almost transport you to a place so peaceful that you have the insights to focus on yourself.

There are many talented artists who create their own unique mandala designs. Meghna (@meghnamandalas) makes her own digital mandala paintings. She also takes custom orders.

Kriti Singhal (@amandalastory) creates original hand-drawn mandalas. The detailing in her work is simply awe-inspiring.

Lastly, Chetna Singla (@mandalasbychetna) is another creative artist making her own original prints. Chetna also takes one on one classes in case any of you wants to learn!

While most of us, even at the age of 18-20, cannot properly draw a straight line, young Advait Kolarkar has been painting since his birth! Today colours have just become a part of him. Initially, his fascination with art and colours began when he was 3 months old. His mother says, he would stare at black objects around the house.

But his parents really noticed his interest in art when he was merely 8 months old. When his mother handed him food colours, he started forming shapes on the floor. It was like he was trying to express himself through these colours. She gave him food colour instead of real paint because she thought it was much safer considering his age. It was like he was trying to express himself through these colours.

Soon, when other kids were still learning alphabets and numbers, our prodigal artist was able to differentiate between shades of colours. At the age of 2, Advait was able to tell apart colours like burnt sienna and raw sienna! He at such a young age understood colours. They weren’t just paints on paper, it was his voice and thoughts on canvases. He took abstract painting to a whole new level!

It is like seeing all the imaginations of an innocent, young brain through a mixture of colours and brushstrokes of different intensities – just plain mesmerizing. His version of reality is on paper for everyone to see. Saint Johns Art Centre in Canada, held a solo exhibition for him at the mere age of two. Even before that, the Art2Day gallery hosted an exhibition of his fine work, in Pune. His paintings sold out within a couple of days.

Today, this 6-year-old prodigy has sold paintings worth millions. He was recently awarded the Global Child Prodigy Award, Art 2020 and it is very well-deserved. Advait Kolarkar will bring a great change in the art industry by becoming a well-renowned artist.

If by any chance, you’ve ever felt sceptical about the power of art in preceding and commencing social change, then ‘Fearless Collective’ has all the tools  to dispel your doubts

“Art cannot change events. But it can change people. It can affect people so that they are changed… because people are changed by art – enriched, ennobled, encouraged – they then act in a way that may affect the course of events… by the way they vote, they behave, the way they think.”

If there was ever something that wholly embodied this particular quotation from Leonard Bernstein, then it would certainly be the ethos behind ‘Fearless Collective’. It is a South Asia based art project that focusses on creating locally empowered murals in a bid to succour social parity and justice. One must never forget the innate power that forms of arts hold in effecting people, for what more does a mere human want than to be represented? The project started by Shilo Shiv Suleman has ‘heartfelt’ written all over it. They have painted in over 10 countries, inexplicably redefining what it means to be Indian from the global perspective.

At the root of every brush they pick is the idea of bridging the gap between what is seen in art and what is felt in reality. Every project of theirs is empowered and enhances by local communities and depicts real-time challenges and struggles that they face. We might be a long way from utopia, but there is no denying that they have certainly created a wonderful image of a world one would like to live in. A shared public place is the cornerstone of community-building, immortalising it with art only ensures that every time people gather, they are reminded of all the ways in which we are the same instead of how we are not. Embedding the power of local communities with the stoke of a brush makes for an unforgettable testimony to the compassion of human beings.

Fearless Collective also actively encourages volunteers and patrons to support their work and share in their experience!

Art is a powerful medium. A way to visualize the complexities of our mind. Mesmerizing and intriguing, art pieces will either inspire your creativity or open a door to a million questions. Art can move the viewer by evoking powerful and lasting emotion. This is why art is a powerful tool to raise awareness.

Aastha Sahadev, one such digital artists, using her Instagram with 38.7k followers to raise awareness about patriarchy in our society, questioning stereotypes and starting a conversation about women’s feelings, needs and desires. Women in her art are usually in traditional attire, but instead being homely or accommodating, they are shown as strong independent women ready to break stereotypes. Her work is equally loved by men, as she portrays the ill-effects of patriarchy on all genders. Using fewer words and more art, she continues to spread awareness among the youth.

With over 51k followers, 21-year-old Ayush Kalra is contributing to the movement of feminism. His art is filled with an intricate pattern, colourful designs and Indian women in sarees and lehengas. His art inspires people to think and make their own decisions, rather than following the rules of society. Through his art, he promotes the need for feminism, not only for women but also men. With captions like “no matter what I’m wearing, I’m not asking for it” and “I need feminism because I don’t need to be told to man up” Ayush Kalra is raising awareness against the ignorance of this important movement.

Hanifa Abdul Hameed (@colorsofhoney) is another brilliant artist over 20.2k followers on Instagram. She portrays all kinds of relevant social issues through her original art pieces. Whether it is about US presidential elections or the BLM movement, the beauty of nature or stereotypes in Asian culture, she uses bright colours and artistic talent to bring light to all these issues.

Art is a way for us to express what we feel – our emotions and thoughts. Art is an escape from reality. But art is also a way to depict reality. Art is our way of understanding the mysteries of the world and sharing it; a way to express our desires, when words alone aren’t enough.

People create characters and narrate stories through art – a reality that doesn’t exist. Others portray real-life elements and people in their drawings. But for all of these you need to understand how to create art. While you do have full artistic freedom, you still need to learn the language.

It’s similar to learning a language like English or Hindi, to communicate our thoughts. You first will need to learn and understand how to use the letters and words. Then you move on to sentence formations. Then you can actually communicate whatever image you have in your head in a way that people around you can understand.

This works for art too. You need to learn how to draw 3-dimensional figures in a 2-dimensional surface. Understanding planes and perspectives, lights and shadows, and how to draw them following guidelines helps you communicate your story better. No artist learns to paint the perfect piece in one day. There is no short cut.

The art journey of two immaculate young artists who are now earning a living creating art proves this.

Subhojit Mondal (@subhojit_mondal_art) is a 16-year-old artist from West-Bengal with an Instagram following of over 16,000. His YouTube channel, Subhojit Mondal Art has over 160,000 subscribers. He makes realistic portraits using different mediums and does a lot of commission work. Not only this, his Youtube channel is filled with entertaining challenges and inspiring content.

But Subhojit Mondal didn’t get all this success in one day. It took years for him to master his art and he continues to learn. And we get to see this journey of 9 years in a video titled “My Art Journey” uploaded on the 24th of February. This video shows the reality, the efforts, the practice that he has put over the years to better and perfect his art. Flipping through thousands of art pieces, you get to see the maturity that comes. All the way from his first painting of carrots to the most recent one, he goes through books after books. Same art piece practised over and over again, some good some bad.

And it’s the over 1000 pieces that have helped him get where he is today.

Vishal (@draw_with_vishal) is another young artist who decided to share his art journey in hopes to inspire and motivate others. In his video “My 10 years of Art Journey” which he uploaded on the 6th of July’20, he emphasizes on the importance of practice. His video is more emotional as he narrates his experience with art over the course of his life. Sharing his work, he shows the raw reality of an artist – they aren’t perfect. They too needed to learn and practice. With each painting, they get better. Experimenting with different mediums to find their perfect one, practising and mastering the mediums, you simply have to do it over and over again. Before showing his recent art – which is awe-inspiring – he shows all the art studies and anatomy practices that he has done to understand how to portray 3-dimensional elements on a paper.

We get a chance to see both the artists start from scratch, learn and grow. The simple reality is with each piece you create, you evolve. You learn, you see things differently. And this helps you mature, both in your work and your perception of the world.