Gurleen’s art buzz
NURSING graduate Gurleen Kaur is the artist behind the beautiful pieces found on the Instagram page @letitflow_leen. The 22-year-old has now ventured into a business, but has been selling her art pieces since high school three years ago.
Gurleen said she was given the opportunity to present her work at the Viti Association of Arts online exhibition. during the COVID-19 pandemic last year,
That engagement proved to be a breakthrough, prompting her to seriously focus on growing her business.
Gurleen started an online business and also took advantage of the opportunity to showcase her art at the University of the South Pacific market.
Moving to Fiji eight years ago from India, Gurleen was inspired by Fiji’s nature and culture. To expand her passion for art, she developed her love for sketching by painting facial expressions of people and landscapes.
“Nature gives me the push that motivates me and the culture and nature here in Fiji is great, the landscape is so pretty,” she said.
Kaur immerses herself in her art to escape from her busy and demanding schedule. However, the bigger picture is making a personal future investment. She dreams of buying a cabin with an art studio with her retirement money.
Therefore whenever she gets the time or is in the mood, she just drops all her books and picks up her paint brush.
Despite learning how to work through her busy life in the medical field, she says as an artist she also faces other struggles.
She said due to the lack of resources, artists were often unable to explore their work and realise their full potential. Not only is there a limited variety of art supplies locally, but they can be very expensive too.
Also, most artists struggle with promoting their work because there isn’t really a specific outlet or platform available to allows all artists to feature their work.
Other than the streets of Suva, market days and the few art exhibitions or events, she hopes there will come a time when there would be many opportunities for artists to showcase their work.
Kaur said she developed her talent gradually, starting from innocent and childhood doodles. Through practice and perseverance, she can now express her imaginations through paintings and earn money as well.
Her words of advice to those who have a passion for art is never to give up.
“I started with doodles as a kid and now I can actually paint on canvases worth selling, so just don’t quit, keep going.”
Above: A painting by Gurleen Kaur.
Gurleen Kaur working on her art pieces.
Gurleen Kaur and her stall during USP Market Day.