Artist Rashila Ramchurn promotes ‘SmART Mob’ concept

Artist painter Rashila Ramchurn, a pioneer of street art in Mauritius since 2011, has marked a turning point in the history of the Arts in Mauritius by breaking the barriers of elitism and changing the codes of art and transforming the landscapes of Mauritius through her creative talents. Rashila is an innovator in the field of Art and her skills enabled her to infiltrate a field so far considered a male domain.

Rashila has written important chapters in the history of the Arts: the Street Art in 2011, the Sociological Art in 2013, the SmART Mob in 2017. She has brought innovation by upgrading the traditional status of woman in an art environment where males were always given priority. The artist, using her guts and confidence, removed her art works from a gallery and placed them along the streets, thus democratising Art for the public at large. Since her young age, Rashila has always had an artistic brain.

When she was ten years old and in form I (Grade 7), her artwork entitled “Port Louis Harbour” was selected and exhibited at the University of Jawaharlall Nehru in New Delhi, India. The artist says that her ancestors have passed on a rich tradition that dates back to 5,000 years, which is in her DNA.

Rashila Ramchurn has had a long artistic journey.  She has learned art from the time when she was still in her mother’s womb, she says.  Besides holding a post-graduate certificate in Education, a degree in Fine Arts, a Masters in Social Development, she is currently pursuing her doctoral studies (PhD) in cultural anthropology. Rashila is inspired by philosophers and artists of the Deconstruction theory, such as Jacques Derrida, Jean Michel Basquiat, Banksy and JR. She also finds her inspiration among the poor people of India, who draw and paint images of God in the streets in few seconds and that too, directly from memory.

“Art is felt. It touches the heart of people,” she tells us. She has already carried out approximately 50 art exhibitions on her own, without any help from sponsors. She believes in the existentialist philosophy: the rich and the poor are buried side by side in cemeteries. “Nothing is permanent. It is wise not to disturb nature’s making. Live and let live because each living thing has a soul, a divine right to be on Earth and live freely.

God has already created a perfect world which man should never manipulate.” She draws her inspiration from Abdul Kallam’s words, “Effort never dies.” Rashila has undertaken a lot of research work: field works, case studies, direct observation, open-ended questionnaires, surveys and interviews in her artistic quest.

During the past three years, Rashila, also a researcher in anthropology, has conversed roughly with 4,000 Mauritians of different social and age groups.  “Our country’s landscape has drastically changed and people are unable to adjust to these mutations. In such a context, they experience difficulties to keep pace with rapid development,” she explains. The artist is of the opinion that Street Art has become obsolete.

“There are too many road accidents and we should not put the young people at risk to paint in the street. “ Street Art thus went into oblivion but the artist in Rashila Ramchurn innovated further and reinvented the latest code of Art adapted to our times and to our landscape. Today, Rashila is the pioneer of the latest art movement known as the ‘SmART Mob’. A SmART Mob is an artistic happening in a public space to benefit the public at large.

It sensitises people and encourages them to think critically. It is a community dialogue which is more intelligent than Street Art. After having considered the opinions of around 4,000 Mauritians over almost three years, the artist decided to paint ‘Mauritius As It Is’  in mixed media. She celebrates Mauritian women who have been doing the laundry of their families for ages but whose contributions were never duly recognised.

Rashila pays tribute to those who have lost their near and dear ones in road accidents or suicides, others who are like a bird in a cage, poor people who take shelter under an umbrella when it rains while working on a truck, those who do not have the hope of travelling in a luxury car.

Mauritius cannot be perceived only as a country that comprises gorgeous natural vistas. At its core, there are families that suffer a tremendous lot. Children and women scream, dogs howl, the sirens of ambulances screech, while burglar alarms are forcibly silenced. Her art works redefine the parameters of our society and the SmART Mob transmits the emotions.

The artist invites the general public to appreciate the SmART Mob exhibition, as it is theirs: ‘Mauritius As It Is’ from 20th to 26th November 2017 at Royal Road, Mademoiselle Laure, Koyratty, Pamplemousses.  Rashila declares that she has worked with the famous Bollywood producer Ashutosh Deshmukh in the launching of the Bengali Film Festival in May 2017. She figures as a street artist in the documentary of OCIO, Overseas Citizen of Indian Origin, a documentary produced by the Indian High Commission in Mauritius to promote the OCIO card.