Self-Care With Diya Sengupta
How has creating art supported your healing journey?
At the lowest point of my life I realized that the creative process and healing process arise from the same source. It stems from the need to develop inner peace and block out the outer chaos and noise. I used to suffer from massive anxiety; panic attacks that left me short of oxygen. In fact, I still do sometimes. The only difference is, I have developed the capacity to overpower it now. I am not saying Creating Art will snap you out of your problems within a fraction of seconds. It is a process. It takes a lot of time, patience and practice. Creating has truly proved to be therapeutic for me. It has not only calmed my mind but has also healed my body. It has created a bubble of happiness inside my head that constantly radiates positive energy. I am a staunch believer of "thoughts become things" so it is extremely important to choose the good ones. I feel people who can create Art, any form of Art, are truly blessed.
What does it mean for you to roar? Can you share about a time you overcame feeling silenced?
The one's who uplift you, extend a hand towards you while climbing up the ladder of success and take care of their tribe are the one's who truly roar. They are just badass. I am one of those fortunate ones who never had their voice silenced ever. Only one instance I can think of is an abusive relationship with a classic case of gas-lighting. Took me 6 years to get out it. Came out of it as an empty shell of a woman with body image issues and went ahead and became the woman my ex would never dare to toy with.
What prompted your art style?
I don't really have an Art Style. I stick to no single aesthetic because I feel it somewhat limits creativity. I tried sticking to a particular style for a while. And I got Bored. Very Very Bored. It just narrows your options to work on versatile projects that require different approaches to style and techniques. For example I create both editorial and children's book illustrations and they both require starkly different styles of drawing and coloring. A significant amount of pressure has been applied on artists over the years to develop their signature style, without which one is not likely to succeed in the art world. It not only causes an undue amount of stress in the mind of artists but also forces them to stick to a particular style without any scope of experimentation. Art should just be about creating. It should free you, not restrict you.
What advice would you give to artist that want to pursue their craft, but don't know where to begin?
One thing no art school will ever tell you is that if you want to pursue art as a career, you will have to step out in the world not just as an artist but also as an entrepreneur. As much as I hate commercialization of Art, I also know you need money to survive. So, just creating is not enough. Market yourself Aggressively. Network as if there's no tomorrow. Have an online presence. Meeting the right people is very important. It helps in the long run. Especially if you decide to go the freelance way.
What is one thing you want women to know today?
It would be a rather beautiful world to live in if women are taught to love each other fiercely and not compete against each other and hate their own body. We have generations of Hate to unlearn and replace it with love. So we need to support each other and not compete against each other. So surround yourself with girlfriends who support you, push you to do better. Good times and positivity. No mess. No Drama.
Diya is a Digital Artist based in India and working around the world. She has created art for brands like Google Arts &Culture, C.R.Y., Gaysi, The Queer Muslim Project and The British Council. She worked as a Graphic Designer for a couple of years but wasn't quite happy with it because there was a humongous gap in what was being taught in art colleges and what was really happening in the market, so she started experimenting with illustration and found her lost love for drawing. You can find Diya on Instagram: the_vagabond_artist