A Mumbai-based orthopaedic surgeon and painter is showcasing his paintings with a social message at an art gallery in the city
Make Every Breath Count. Pics courtesy/Manoj Singrakhia
Mumbai resident Dr Manoj Singrakhia, an orthopaedic surgeon and a full-time painter by profession, has combined the two worlds to create paintings with a social message of empathy. Singrakhia’s exhibition of paintings, Unseen, at Nehru Gallery, is inspired by years of reading his patients’ body language. He firmly believes that a face is not the only way to express emotions. Thus, his paintings are mostly without the faces of the people he drew.
Welding
He says, “It’s a myth that we can show emotions only through our face. I believe there are many ways one can show emotions. For example, the way you position your hands before the operation can show anxiety. Another example is the way people sit down or lift something. That also talks about their emotions. This is what I wanted to show through my 50 paintings at the exhibition.”
Waiting
The 50-year-old explains, “My paintings are faceless also because I didn’t want to show the class or religion. The aim is to show the unseen emotions of these patients and what they go through.” He adds, “There was a case where a young boy who was an athlete had an issue with his back. So, I did the surgery, and he was back to swimming and cycling. He was the inspiration behind the painting, Make Every Breath Count.”
Living in a Box
Apart from patients, Singrakhia paints the body language of people across other walks of life. He shares, “There’s one painting called Living in a Box, where I have captured the emotions of an Indian Army sergeant who is leaving his home to serve the nation. We often don’t respect them enough; it’s only because of them that we live safely.” Singrakhia is also sensitive to the anxiety that parents experience in their old age: “There is another painting titled Waiting, where I have shown elderly people waiting for a call from their children.”
Dr Manoj Singrakhia
The surgeon has a message that he would like to share with society through his paintings. “It is empathy for patients. A patient is not just a disease, a fracture or a problem. A patient is a human being with a set of emotions. So, we must treat the person as a human being first.”
Till: June 2; 11 am to 7 pm
At: Nehru Gallery, Discovery of India building, ground floor, Dr Annie Besant Road, Lotus Colony, Worli.
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