QL features: Exploring Swapna Namboodiri’s art

Feb 16, 2022

When a child picks up a paintbrush, it is believed that they’re painting to change the world. Similarly, when Swapna Namboodiri rediscovered her passion for art, she stepped into a new world where she was going to be redefining art in her way

Rediscovering the artist

With no formal background in the field, Swapna Namboodiri was actually on a break from her career as an engineer when she rediscovered her love for art. She had always painted on the side as a hobby, but when she took a year off to fulfill her new role as a mother, Swapna found herself longing to paint again. This time around, she even had the time to do it more often. While in Bangalore she frequently found herself exploring exhibitions and learning from other artists. This is when she realized that this was her true calling.

Swapna in Qatar

In 2014, Swapna moved to Qatar, where she was introduced to a different market. From local galleries and artists in India to being in the hub of Arabic and other different art, she explored Katara often. Over the years, she was introduced to different mediums used by artists as well and always found herself inclining towards thicker mediums. As she was never just focused on the classic style, Swapna was more open to experimenting with new forms of expressing herself through art.

Developing her attraction towards bright colors and revisiting her love for plastic that started with making jewellery for herself years ago, Swapna got busy with the new experiment. She had already been meeting people and finding out what her audience liked and it finally clicked – all she needed was one bottle of plastic,

The first collection

In 2015, Swapna discovered online galleries and thought that she had found her audience online. Her first collection consisted of 3 pieces where she used less than one bottle of plastic. Websites like Artfinder and Saatchi Art introduced her to people all around the world who validated her work, giving her the confidence to continue. Her desire to create something unique paid off and Swapna found herself on a journey of discovering this new form of art.

Plastic art for the environment

What started as just a passion later became a journey of awareness. Her work that was mostly inspired by nature started to have more meaning to her; she realized how plastic was destroying the environment and she learned about the upside of recycling. The work that revolved around ocean life evolved into an agenda to make that life better as well.

The artist today

Today, Swapna’s artworks use over 300 bottles. With the help of her friends and family who collect bottles and often drop them at her place, Swapna finds herself finding more time to create and display. In 2018, she displayed her solo work ‘For the Planet’ in Qatar and also got the opportunity to be at the Tokyo International Art Fair followed by another exhibition at Amsterdam International Art Fair in 2019.

Her installations were also displayed at M7 in Msheireb and we've also seen her work recently at the I Love Play Time Paris show in the VIP lounge! Her creativity and unique flair was also seen at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2022 - and we experienced sheer brilliance in form of art

Creating awareness through art is one of the finest things in life and Swapna Namboodiri has been excelling at it.