Shilo Shiv Suleman is perhaps one of the most recognised faces in the contemporary art scene. She is the founder-director of The Fearless Collective; a group of over 400 artists who use art to change the popular patriarchal discourses. She was born in Bangalore and graduated in 2011 from the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology, training in animation.
Shilo Shiv Suleman Art Style
Shilo Shiv Suleman specializes in illustration and installation art. Her artwork stands at the junction of magical realism, social justice, and technology. Recently, she has been experimenting with biofeedback technology, assessing the relationship between body and art. In so many ways, she is a product of a conflux, which is adequately reflected in her artworks. She takes inspiration from the Islamic and Hindu mythologies.
Shilo Shiv Suleman Artwork
Inspired by her mother, Shilo Shiv Suleman took up drawing and painting as a child. She illustrated her first children’s book at the age of 16. During her career, she has engendered numerous paintings, murals, installations, and artworks. Let’s discuss some of them briefly.
Pulse and Boom
The interactive installation, ‘Pulse and Boom’ was made for the 2014 Burning Man. This Shiv Suleman art brings together artists, architects, engineers, and neuroscientists (primarily Rohan Dixit) to monitor heartbeats and brainwaves to light up a grove of steel flowers (lotus). The pulse guides the rhythmic lighting pattern of the installation. The installation interrogates the relationship between love and its effect on the human body. Coincidentally, four pairs tied the knots under her installation.
Shilo Shiv Suleman’s social art installation brings together people (up to 40 at a time) to sync their heartbeats. The 20 lotus climb to the height of 10-14 feet with the pulse sensor located at the stem’s base. When an individual places their hand on the sensor, the installation lights up in the same fashion as their heartbeat. When another person joins in, the receptors take the information and mimic the heartbeats of both individuals. The installation was the winner of the 2014 Burning Man Honorarium Art Grant. The installation reflects the power of community and the experiences that keep us connected.
Picking Up The Pieces of Myself
Another exciting Shilo Shiv Suleman artwork, which alludes to the mythological obsession of the artist is titled ‘Picking Up The Pieces Of Myself.’ In the ritual performance piece, Suleman reclaims her body. She builds upon the narrative of the burning ‘Sati,’ whose organs fell in 57 places across the subcontinent; which are now considered sacred spaces. The 20-pieced artwork is an excellent commentary on womanhood. It seems as if Suleman has made it a mission to collect the deity’s organ to birth a new feminine energy.
Image Courtesy – Women Rise
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