Age is Just a Number: Artist Meenu Goyal's Late-Career Renaissance Sparks Hope and Inspiration

At 17, Meenu Goyal, at the threshold of beginning an exciting college life, developed meningitis, an inflammation of the tissues surrounding the brain, which left her with partially impaired vision. Her hopes of attending college in person were crushed, leading her parents to home-school her, with a focus on art. This marked the beginning of her love story with brushes.

Meenu Goyal, 49, is a Delhi-based artist, proficient in painting with mediums like water colours, acrylics, graphite, and charcoal. Over the last eight years, she has showcased her work at World Art Dubai, and Lalit Kala Art Academy, and participated in a silent auction in Bombay.

HerZindagi spoke to Meenu, to find out what inspires her art, how she rekindled a long-lost passion and how art can be a boon for all.

Dealing with Debilitating Meningitis and Partial Loss of Vision

When she was about 17-years-old, she suffered from meningitis. The resulting loss of partial vision forced her to take a gap year. During this time, her parents arranged for an art teacher to home-school her.

“Art gave me so much peace, calmness and solace during that tumultuous time, that it stayed with me for life,” said Meenu. “Everyone was worried, there were concerns about whether I’ll ever get my vision back, but art worked as a therapy for me back then,” she added.

Her artwork from that time primarily features monochromatic watercolours. “I couldn’t see or grasp the full range of colours, so I stuck to monochromatic themes,” she added. Monochrome has since evolved to become her signature style.

Read: Canvas Chronicles: Explore India's Finest Art Galleries For A Visual Feast

Finding Inspiration in Femininity

She eventually got married and took on the responsibilities of family, her three kids, and running a household. Priorities changed and art took a backseat during these years. However, it was after her daughters left for college, she felt the urge to reconnect with her long-lost love for art.

“There’s no right age to start pursuing a passion,” she said.

Meenu’s life as a woman and her observation of other women’s lives became the crux of inspiration for her when she took up paintbrushes later in life. Her latest collection is inspired by her travels across India, where she closely observed the lives of women. “I saw how every woman feels proud about decorating her house, the walls, with as much care and personalisation as possible. Women from all strata of society try to decorate her house with whatever means she has aesthetically,” explained Meenu. “What I’m working on right now shows this, where in particular, I have focused on Khovar art of Jharkhand”

Many of her paintings also portray scenes from nature, featuring wistful watercolour landscapes, shorelines, and more. While many assume this reflects her connection with nature, she explains that the pieces often carry a deeper meaning.

"In my lotus series, there’re a lot of lotuses and water lilies. I saw these flowers that emerge from the mud, weather storms and whatever else comes their way, yet they remain beautiful and strong. That, to me, symbolises a woman's resilience, that despite adverse conditions, she finds her way out and survives gracefully,” said Meenu.

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Also read: Amrita Sher-Gil: 4 Revered Paintings That Continue To Inspire Modern Indian Artists

AI and Art: Threat or Support?

The latest buzzword in the art world is Artificial Intelligence. Questions like “Will it replace artists? Will it take our jobs? Will it make better, quicker art? What about the ethics of it?” are circulating widely.

For Meenu, technology isn’t a threat. She believes it's a good idea to engage with new emerging technology and see how they can help themselves.

“AI can explain my words to me, maybe in a better way. It can help find more meanings in art. It can maybe also teach theoretical aspects like textures and all. So, maybe AI can be a teacher to me. That’s how I approach it,” she said.

She feels confident that hand art and artists can never really be replaced.

Art Can Be Therapeutic, Helps You Slow Down

Meenu is associated with an NGO, ‘The Akshaya Patra Foundation’, which provides midday meals to underprivileged children. She teaches art to kids there. “When I visit those children, they just hold a pencil colour or a chalk and slate in their hands, and it is like therapy for them,” she said. “They may go back to facing multiple challenges at home, but for the little time that they sit with colours, they find joy and calmness.”

Meenu emphasises that this experience isn’t exclusive to just these kids. People from all professions, classes, genders, and diverse groups, can benefit from engaging with art.

“Art makes us pause and reflect. All forms of art, whether it's painting, music, or anything else. In today’s fast-paced world, it brings thehrav (a pause),” she said. “Sitting with art, or even sitting with yourself, being comfortable with that is very important. Once people find the means to be happy with just oneself, they’ll find happiness everywhere they go,” she added.