Soniya Patel
Art and Photography by Soniya Patel
Madrid 28011 Spain

An unfruitful quest to understand and find answers to the senseless imbalance at every level that one dares to look, the incessant waste and misdirection of human potential, the seemingly endless cycle of self-annihilation. 

The child in the portrait is holding/playing with a hand grenade.  It's considered to be complete due to some kind of unwillingness and fear of making the final statement. The model is Sophia, Pankaj and Shilpi's elder daughter. On a positive note, and inspired by her directly, it is also a celebration of the passing elusiveness and haunting beauty of childhood, the innocence of unawareness versus the spoils and choices brought about by growth.  

 Of British nationality, Indian origin and brought up in various parts of Africa,I have always held a profound fascination and interest for people, the human drama, life as lived by ordinary and extraordinary people, united by common factors, separated by prejudices and ignorance.  I search for answers to a not wholly understood quest, through paint and colour as well as other media. My favourite subject matter, people.  

As a child I always scrutinised people sitting in front of me, took them apart from top to bottom, deconstructing them in my head until I could go no further.  It didn't matter where I was or what I was doing, I would always find someone to examine from close up. Often I would find myself mesmerised by the inclination of an eye, the movement of a lip, a gesture, a curl of hair, the nasal orifices, the curve of a cheek the wrinkles on a throat constrained by a tight collar or tie, the movements of a hand and so much more... 

I found the greatest pleasure whiling away my time in this manner, my attention lost within the marvels of such a fascinating universe of visual details. I was never bored in any situation where one had to wait, for me there was so much to absorb, my interest was and to a certain extent continues to be insatiable, without barriers or limits in time.  

 I ask myself how my quest will unfold, what is my role in the play of things, what forms do I employ, in what context, and what are my priorities?  Any artistic creation ought to be spiritual, intellectual and take advantage of emotions. I believe we do not always need a revolution to be revolutionary. There isn't even the need to be public, it could simply be an intimate and personal journey.  Art may not always directly lead to social changes but could provoke and prepare us for those changes.  It can open our eyes to what we have failed to see in the past, what we refuse to see, what life inadvertently tells us.  Art speaks of the sensitivity and gravity of imbalances.  Through art something considered normal could take on the form of abnormal or spectacular or something considered ugly could become beautiful and vice versa; that considered trivial could take on importance depending on how it is presented. 

I would like to take art to the people, especially people who for one reason or another have had little opportunity to see or understand what art can do for them. Of course I am interested in the liberation of women, not only from socially imposed restraints but from their own ties, created by expectations, subtle or otherwise,  undercurrents that box them in, corner and imprison; so that they can wholly realise themselves as human beings at whatever level they should choose.  

Certainly art ought to be a way of fulfilling certain responsibilities both at an individual and social level.  It is a tool, which can denounce the madness and destructiveness of our world and society, a tool with which one can fight against attitudes that degrade humanity and human life.