French artist Olivia de Bona showcases the possibilities of wall art at her exhibition in Thiruvananthapuram

Olivia de Bona with the wall art she did on George, the Bengal tiger, at Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum in Thiruvananthapuram
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

George, the Bengal tiger housed at Thiruvananthapuram zoo, hogged the limelight, thanks to French writer and dancer Claire le Michel, who wrote stories about him, which were later aired on radio in France and eventually became a library project involving schools there. Now, another French artist, Olivia de Bona, has celebrated the memory of the tiger who passed away last December, with a wall art dedicated to him.

Olivia brought George alive on one of the walls of the library at Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum (AFT), Vazhuthacaud. She was in the city as part of the second edition of Wall Art Festival, the national festival organised by The French Institute/ IFI (Institut français India), via various branches of Alliances Francaises in the country, JSW Paints and other partners. The artist is among the four wall art artists who are travelling the country as part of festival. She was in Thiruvananthapuram after holding exhibitions in Chandigarh and Pune and her next stopover is Bhopal.

“Tiger has been a recurring motif in my wall art works. So, when they suggested doing one more tiger, I was happy to do it since I have heard stories about George,” says Olivia. George, named after a character in a Malayalam movie, was caught from Wayanad. He used to be a threat to human settlements in the area. Although he was in bad health, the zoo authorities managed to get him back on his feet.

French meets Indian

Of the two paintings Olivia has done at AFT, the second work is what she calls “a blend of French and Indian”. She has drawn Sacré-Coeur, the iconic monument in Paris with its majestic dome, and Eiffel Tower, with cranes overlooking the view. “The architecture of the monument is such that it might remind you of Indian structures with similar domes. I want to confuse viewers as it is left to them to decide whether it is Indian or French. As for the cranes, it is purely an Indian thing,” she explains.

Olivia de Bona at work at Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

Animals and birds are integral to her wall art. “I love them. I feel that I can also make them talk to humans about certain qualities. For example, tiger stands for strength. Earlier, I used to include foxes in my works.”

In Chandigarh, Olivia celebrated French and Indian architecture with a resplendent work with a tiger, a peacock and deer blending into the frame. A woman immersed in reading, with a peacock by her side, was the work she did in Pune.

Back home in Paris, Olivia, runs her art studio, where she mostly does straw macquetry, which she has been blending with mixed media, including wood. “I work in my studio or do wall art. I don’t want to paint on a canvas. I prefer to have a huge canvas to showcase my art and the walls give me that space,” says Olivia, having started her journey with a street art collective in Paris.

Olivia de Bona with students of College of Fine Arts Thiruvananthapuram
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement

At the exhibition, she also featured Malayalam words with their corresponding French words. “This is a collaborative effort. People come here to study French and I wanted to give them a piece of France,” she says. She was assisted by students of College of Fine Arts — Krithik Vimal Vijay, Anand Krishna and Jerome K Johnson.