Annandi Merhai : An up and coming photographer

We have a budding artist in our midst and we have an opportunity to see just what this young lady is all about. From January 17 to 28, York University’s Department of Visual Arts will be hosting an exhibition entitled Bollywood – Image and Themes by Annandi Merhai from 10am to 4:30am each day. Displaying photography and painting, this event is an exploration of South Asia pop culture by this fourth-year visual arts major. The Oye! Times announcement also gives us a Google map to help us find the York Campus and I see Now Magazine is advertising the event as well.

 

Ms. Merhai has been giving us all a preview of her work at Oye! Times with a series of 17 photos. I see that this self-portrait has become her identifier for the up-coming exhibition. It certainly depicts an aura of mystery about just who this woman is and just what she may become as her career unfolds before all of us. Ah, the unknown aspect of the future lends itself to expectation and promise and begs the question: what is around the next corner?

 

This 4th year York student may not as of yet completed her degree but she has already embarked on her business career. Back in 2009, she participated in the Summer Company Program of the Richmond Hill SBEC (Small Business Enterprise Centre) and managed to launch her own business called Devi Designs. According to the online report about this venture:

 

 

At Ms. Merhai’s web site, Devi Designs, she publishes her Curriculum Vitae which details her accomplishments. I can see that this young lady has been quite busy and a cursory search of the Net leads me to several items of note:

 

 

Ryersonian Newspaper: Campus shines a light on Diwali traditions – Nov 2/2010

by Angelica Stirpe – Photo by Annandi Merhai

 

Canadian Art: Full Opening and Event Listing: Jan 13 to 19, 2011

 

Oye! Times: Toronto Firefighters’ Pictures

 

Ms. Merhai has well positioned herself on the Internet. In this day and age of social media and connectivity, the message has to get out there and one has to exploit the means at one’s deposal.

 

Devi Designs: official web site

 

 

 

I note that on the page "About Me", Ms. Merhai has written, "I am a passionate soul who involves her life in the arts! Lives for every moment with no regrets!" Judge for yourselves if that passion is being translated into her art.

 

This is the place to see just what Annandi Merhai can do. She has posted hundreds of photos of her work spanning a wide variety of subjects and she well demonstrates that passion she talked about on her blog for involving her life in her art.

 

In looking through the various sets, I find some wonderful examples of Ms. Merhai’s work in different areas. From Animals and Wildlife andCottage to Portraits which involve both self-portraits and portraits of friends including Nida 2 and some lovely black and white photos of the couple Neetu and Haz, a couple expecting an addition to their family. She has included a number of sets about the various people she knows: Leigh Scholl, Himani Goswani, Amit Kumar, Kyle, and the more artistic Seductress in the 21st Century.

 

I see she was up and about during the night of December 21, 2010 to capture some great photos of the lunar eclipse. See Oye! Times Dec 20/2010 where I talked about how astronomy was having a double billing that day: the winter solstice and a lunar eclipse. Ms. Merhai got some great pics of this "red moon".

 

From January 17 to 28, we all have a chance to the work of Annandi Merhai on display at York University. This our chance to see this young lady at the start of her career which already shows promise if her posting on Flickr are indicative of what the future holds. And yes, I would recommend that all of the readers click over to Flickr and have a look at her photographs. There are some very interesting pictures; I think it is well worth your time.

 

The artist explains on her web site that the name "Devi" in "Devi Designs" comes from her middle name and that Devi is the Sanskrit word for Goddess. This seems like an appropriate name for this woman’s company as someday, we may very well be saying that her work borders on the heavenly.

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