Lotus Tahirih Menezes has been painting from the age of 14 but she has never embarked on an actual ‘tour’ of seascapes. The shifting landscapes of Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar that have mesmerized her for years. Having just turned thirty a couple of days ago, she felt a sense of urgency to capture seascapes that will soon change as a result of the rapid economic growth that Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar are currently experiencing.
…she felt a sense of urgency to capture seascapes that will soon change as a result of the rapid economic growth that Dar es Salaam and Zanzibar are currently experiencing.
Lotus and Painting Seascapes
Juggling her profession as a lawyer together with teaching salsa, painting has often been left to her painting urges after work, or in the early hours of the morning when sleep escaped her. Since she has had some time off, she has taken the brush by the bristles to venture out and paint seascapes whilst being exposed to the elements. She reflects that ‘painting on site has certainly been a learning experience, you have to organize yourself making sure you have brought the necessary equipment, washed your brushes and brought along clean palettes and sponges, then find shade, and a place to be inspired enough to create a painting within two to three hours. Once on site, with all the above organised, there is the pressure to create something amazing with every brush stroke so that passes by see a complete work with every step’.
Once on site…there is the pressure to create something amazing with every brush stroke so that passes by see a complete work with every step’.
The Paintings
Most of the paintings are scenes from places she has painted in her head over and over again; the coco beach painting holds a particular special place in her heart; ‘ I remember splashing about with my mum and dad from an early age’.
The Exhibition
The paintings at the exhibition are a collection done on site over the month of February 2012, within two to three hours. Just to give you some background, Lotus has always been drawn to painting the ocean, you will also see sketches done from 14 years, when she was obsessed with a seascape artist, Roy Tabora from Hawaii. ‘I hope that through this exhibition, you are able to connect with some of the seascapes that surround us, seascapes that are rapidly changing as our country rapidly develops’.
‘I hope that through this exhibition, you are able to connect with some of the seascapes that surround us, seascapes that are rapidly changing as our country rapidly develops’.
