When Julia Raath was in Canberra looking after her mother, she heard about Cyclone Amphan hitting West Bengal.
"It was going to be a pretty devastating cyclone and then of course when it did hit, it hit Kolkata, which is one of my most favourite places in India I have to say," says Ms Raath, who has been travelling to the country since 1998.
A mighty cyclone Amphan had devasted eastern Indian city of Kolkata in May this year, killing more than 80 people across India and Bangladesh. The first super cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal since 1999, Amphan was classified as very severe. Tens of thousands were left homeless, mostly in three districts of West Bengal, South Parganas, North Parganas and East Midnapore.
The love for India and especially Kolkata, motivated Ms Raath to do something for the victims.
An artwork by Julia Raath. Source: Supplied
"There are many, many places that I love to visit in India. I have friends in many cities, but I have a very close connection to Kolkata and West Bengal. So when I heard the news about the cyclone and the devastation I felt the need to try and do something to assisting people who might be impacted by the cyclone," Ms Raath explains.
How much Julia Raath loves India? Listen to this conversation:
So, she contacted her friends in India and upon their suggestions, she decided to paint a picture for a fundraiser.
"I noticed that there was a particular print or painting that I've done, which had had quite a great response in terms of people liking it on social media. So, I propose that I would do a short term fundraiser with that particular painting to raise money to send to [Indian charity] GiveALittle. I had a two-week fundraising campaign," she says.
Ms Raath has been painting daily since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when she went to Canberra to look after her mother during the lockdown.
Julia Raath Source: Supplied
"My mother had a lovely space for me to work in, so I set myself a challenge to paint something every day because that would bring me from joy in this struggling time. I started posting them on Instagram as well, so I was sharing with my friends to give them something to be happy about, and I called it the 'COVID Creative Collection'.
The Indian connection
Ms Raath feels a special connection with India. During her first visit to India in 1998, she was invited to attend a conference when the International Foundation of Fashion Technology Institute (IFFTi) was being founded.
This might interest you:
A place in Australia where cows are respected and protected as mothers
There she made some great friends and was invited to teach at the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT). It sparked her love affair with India, which continues to this date.
"I was really lucky to be able to spend time in Delhi, Hyderabad Kolkata and not that you can totally get to know a city in short periods of working but, it introduced me to different parts of India, and I just fell in love with the country."
She has travelled to India nearly 15 times since then. She collaborated with many artists in India, and she is running a project to help artisans from the rural parts of the country.
an artwork by Julia Raath. Source: Supplied
Recently, she has been working with a group of women in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
These women make baskets which she brings to Australia to sell on their behalf.
She says the country has also had a significant effect on her art and style.
There are so many variations in the colour which you just can't not love.
"I always had a really keen interest in colour. It was one of my favourite subjects to teach. India is so extraordinary in the colours, and the colour palette is so varied. If you're travelling in Rajasthan, it is different from what it would be like in Gujarat to West Bengal to South India."
This might interest you:
'That black Hindu slave': Lachlan Macquarie's Silent Witness
The Pandemic effect
Ms Raath describes herself as a textile designer "with a passion for print and surface design". She says she has a personal preference for floral, geometric and abstract designs and enjoy working with colour.
The pandemic has given her artwork a different perspective.
It is much more about having something to do that was more like a meditative process.
"The work I produced prior to COVID was basically for commercial purpose. So it would be to produce textile prints or to produce textile products that I would sell at the markets."
"The work that was produced, and still producing were much more about trying to paint something beautiful every day because I've I struggled, in the beginning, thinking about having restrictions and people being at home and finding some joy basically each day. And I didn't feel that I was producing these to sell, because I didn't think that that was the important side of it."
An artwork by Julia Raath Source: Supplied
