Artist uses tea to tell poignant tales of underprivileged children

True brew

Tea, that perks one up in the morning, is a medium that a city-based artist uses to give a voice to the voiceless. Dhanaraj Keezhara brings alive stories of vulnerable slum children he had taught at a slum school. 

A boy who lost his life in an accident while playing with a tyre is one of the many subjects of Keezhara’s paintings. Another poignant painting is that of two children set against the background of a handwritten letter by Vinitha, Keezhara’s student who talks about her life, family and dreams. 

Keezhara uses tea stains and charcoal instead of the conventional media like oil and acrylic to add voice to the silent cries of the marginalised community. 

“Much of my inspiration comes from my engagement with students at Christel House India, an institution I have been associated with for the past 16 years. It is here that I had the opportunity to interact with children over the years. I have watched them entering kindergarten and have watched them complete their education. I have been inspired a lot by their personal stories,” said Keezhara.

He works as the head of the department of art and visual media at Christel House India, an organisation that works towards educating children from marginalised communities.

Keezhara brings alive these unknown faces through memory on an eco-friendly canvas made of handmade paper, tea-wash experiment and charcoal sketches that produce aesthetics of a mysterious kind.

It took Keezhara six years to complete works and over 10 years in perfecting the medium. Keezhara begins by creating a tea decoction made by boiling organic tea leaves. He then applies three to seven layers of the solution to give the perfect tone to the painting. Thereafter, he uses charcoal to draw portraits on the canvas .

Keezhara says  the tea leaves available in the market fail to render the required shade as they undergo a chemical process during packaging. It is only when you use pure, organic tea leaves that you get the perfect undertones. “Using pure and natural ingredients helps me retain the raw and real pictures captured in these paintings,” said Keezhara.

Keezhara’s paintings will be showcased at his three-day exhibition titled “Chiaroscuro - The shades of light and life”, at Belaku Art Gallery, MG Road from Friday.