The ANT artist of Mandrem

Like the ants that are a constant in her work, Shilpa Mayenkar Naik can pass by unobserved until she bites you with her perceptive paintings. Her favourite insect leitmotif crawled its way into her debut solo exhibition outside Goa. Titled Escada (Portuguese for staircase), her exhibition found a rare display for a Goan artist at Lakeeren, a Mumbai art gallery; where she was free to conjure them on the walls of the gallery too.
Escada focuses on the historical, cultural and social relationship between Goa and Portugal by showcasing everyday objects that are now seen as quintessentially Goan. “I created my work from a female perspective by showcasing household objects,” she says.
The title and the piece de resistance of the exhibition draw its inspiration from the stairway outside the Portuguese consulate at Altinho, Panaji, where scores of people camp to apply for Portuguese citizenship. “It represents the staircase to Europe and the uncertain other side,” she says questioning whether a move to Europe is for the better.
It was a family debate and a pressing exhibition deadline that sparked her latest work. “A family member was considering opting for a Portuguese passport. I tried to convince him against it as it meant losing his Indian identity. Moving to another country is good. But, there is no need to cut one’s ties with their roots,” opines the 33-year-old artist.
Distancing herself from making any political statements, all at once, Mayenkar Naik lets her work speak of nostalgia associated with the Portuguese, cutting of ties, new beginnings, and the uncertainty of moving to ‘greener pastures’. “There is nothing wrong with moving,” she says while raising questions on the need to change one’s identity after the move.
Her leaning towards the colonized species (ants) emerged from a fear of drawing the human figure, an overtly modest Mayenkar Naik says. They take on a different meaning with every work. In Escada, the ants speak of migrations to Portugal which acts as a gateway to Europe for Goans, indicate sea routes undertaken by Vasco da Gama as well as a reverse colonization of sorts. She uses the insects to form maps of Europe and the world to explore the complex issue of migration.
Featuring objects now considered intrinsically Goan, Mayenkar Naik’s exhibition in all its simplicity depicts cashew nuts and chillies, ingredients without which Goan cuisine is rendered incomplete. The cashews also surface as part of the artist’s childhood memories. “My father owned a cashew plantation, hence that is a work that I too personally relate too.” she shares.
Broken china from Macau dumped on Goan shores and resurrected as mosaic floors, crochet brought in by Portuguese missionaries and Azulejos (blue tiles) also find place on her canvas.
A product of the Sarojini Naidu school of arts and communication, Hyderabad, and Goa College of Art, Mayenkar takes creative refuge at her husband Pradip’s ancestral village of Mandrem, where together with their son, they host artist residency camps in their aesthetically pleasing home called Studio 215.