The Rainbow Palette

It’s never late to chase the rainbow of your dreams. That’s what Gulbanu Merchant tells us through her life story. A lawyer by profession, she took up art at the age of 66. Today she is an accomplished and established artist. Read her story and get inspired.

Gulbanu Merchant with her creation Titanic

Multiple shades of a rainbow is what I am reminded of when I speak to the multi-faceted Gulbanu Merchant, for she is a painter, a sculptor, a poetess and a retired lawyer. Born in 1936, she started her artistic journey only when she was 66 years of age.

Coming from a conservative family, Merchant gave up her childhood ambition to be an artist and studied to be a lawyer after completing her graduation from Sophia College, Mumbai. For almost fifteen years, she worked with the law magazine, Bombay Law Reporter and then with solicitor Nanavati Tijoria for another five years, before she decided to give it all up and follow her heart’s calling in 1985, after her parents passed away.

Merchant plunged into her world of dreams by travelling. She traversed the length and breadth of the country and travelled across the world, drawing inspiration from her travels, without a care in the world as to what she would do for a living.

She joined the Art Society of India in 1999. Her painting of Mother Teresa was selected to be displayed at the Jehangir Art Gallery and was appreciated by its patrons. This unleashed the artist within her and over the years Merchant was like a sponge soaking in all forms of art around her.

Mother Teresa

In 2000, Merchant attended a Fresco course at Banasthali Vidyapith in Jaipur. She also dabbled with terracotta and metal scrap. Remembering her first experiences with metal she tells us, “I was attending Arzan Khambatta’s workshop for children at his foundry, as an observer, when after 4-5 days he invited me to join them.” This is where her popular metal scrap sculptures ‘Titanic’, ‘Busybee’ and ‘Burning Bush’ took shape. ‘Titanic’, as the name suggests, is her rendition of the famous ship Titanic and ‘Busybee’ is a tribute to Behram Contractor, the erstwhile editor of Afternoon newspaper.

A painting of Mahatma Gandhi by Merchant

Mahatma Gandhi is one of her favourite subjects. Her latest exhibition on Gandhi was held at Gujarat Vidyapith in Ahmedabad. Also exhibited there were her poems on Bapu. “I didn’t know Bapu but I paint him with my own vision,” she says. Merchant has been building up on her collection of paintings and poems on Gandhi ever since.

Another muse of hers has been the moon. “Our old house had two or three balconies and right opposite was the Bombay dock. Nature and moon always fascinated me whenever I looked out.” Merchant has written poems on the moon and also has two sculptures of Chandrayaan, the unmanned lunar probe launched by ISRO.

Her latest love is working with dry flowers and leaves. It originated when during a stay in an ashram in the Himalayas, the nuns urged Merchant to paint. Since colours were unavailable, she started working with dry flowers from the altar and was pleased with the results.

A sculpture of Chandrayaan

Today after many solo and group shows, Merchant has definitely found a breadwinner in art. On a closing note Gulbanu Merchant shares with us a favourite verse, from her own writings.

In this universe I am not even a dot, and yet I have God

Gulbanu Merchant is 75 years old and lives in Mumbai. Her work can be purchased at http://www.rukshaanart.com and http://www.bcagalleries.com

– Nidhi Chawla