Beyond the Downpour: How Shalini B Menon Weaves Memory, Light, and Monsoon into a Visual Symphony 

Shalini B Menon’s solo exhibition, ‘More than just rains…’, transcends its monsoon theme to become a profound painted memoir that weaves together fragments of the artist’s childhood, travels, and emotional landscape. Through masterful watercolour and acrylic works, Menon explores the interplay of light and shadow, a recurring motif that shapes the emotional terrain of her pieces, while her fascination with Kerala’s traditional architecture reveals a deep sense of nostalgia and preservation. Drawing inspiration from personal photographs, cinema, and deeply personal objects like her father’s umbrella, the exhibition transforms everyday scenes and universal experiences into a resonant exploration of memory, family legacy, and the hidden stories that lie beyond the obvious downpour.

Beyond the Downpour: How Shalini B Menon Weaves Memory, Light, and Monsoon into a Visual Symphony 

The monsoon in Kerala is more than a meteorological event; it is a protagonist in the state’s story, a mood, a memory, and a muse. For Kochi-based artist Shalini B Menon, it is the very thread that weaves together the tapestry of her lived experiences. Her recent solo exhibition, ‘More than just rains…’, held at the historic David Hall Art Gallery, was not merely a collection of rain-soaked landscapes but a profound, painted memoir. It invited viewers to look beyond the obvious downpour and into the emotional and nostalgic reservoirs that the rain evokes. 

At first glance, the exhibition is a masterful ode to Kerala’s most iconic season. Canvases are dominated by the deep greens of dripping foliage, the silvery sheen of mist-laden skies, and the familiar curve of black umbrellas against a grey backdrop. The technical proficiency in her watercolour and acrylic works is immediately apparent—the transparency of watercolour capturing the rain’s delicacy, while acrylics build the weight and depth of stormy skies. Yet, to stop at this aesthetic appreciation is to miss the exhibition’s true heart. As the title insists, this is about so much more. 

The Alchemy of Light and Shadow 

One of the most compelling recurring characters in Shalini’s narrative is not an object, but an element: light. She wields light not as a mere tool for illumination but as a central, emotive force. In conversation about her work ‘Monsoon Melodies’, she reveals her intentionality. The painting depicts a valley on the cusp of a downpour, its mood heavy and anticipatory. Instead of flooding the scene with light, she makes a conscious choice: “I usually only let some light fall on the tree and the rest of the painting would remain in darkness.” 

This deliberate manipulation creates a dramatic, almost theatrical effect. It guides the viewer’s eye and dictates the emotional rhythm of the piece. In works like ‘The One and Temple Tales’, light becomes a defining component, carving out details of traditional architecture and creating pockets of mystery and revelation. This mastery over chiaroscuro transforms her scenes from straightforward representations into psychological spaces, where light symbolizes hope, memory, or a fleeting moment of clarity amidst the gloom. 

Architectural Nostalgia and the Palimpsest of Memory 

Shalini’s artistic journey is deeply rooted in the soil of her childhood in Wadakkanchery and Thrissur. Her formative years left an indelible mark, fostering a fascination with the region’s traditional ‘manas’ (traditional Hindu homes) and ‘illams’ (Namboodiri Brahmin households). These structures, with their weathered walls, sloping roofs, and intricate woodwork, become more than subjects; they are vessels of history and personal memory. 

Her watercolours dedicated to this architecture are rendered with a tenderness that suggests portraiture rather than mere depiction. The palette here shifts from the vibrant greens of nature to softer, earthier tones—the ochre of laterite, the deep brown of aged wood, the grey of monsoon-season stone. This is where her claim that “art is an extension of lived memory” becomes most potent. Each brushstroke feels like an act of preservation, capturing these architectural treasures before they fade into history, much like the memories they hold. 

From Captured Moment to Created Canvas: The Photographic Muse 

A fascinating aspect of Shalini’s process is her use of photography as a springboard for creativity. She often recreates artworks based on photographs, but this is far from simple replication. It is an act of translation and interpretation. 

She reveals that one series was inspired by rain-soaked photographs taken by TNIE photographer A Sanesh. Struck by the composition and emotion in his frames published in the newspaper, she sought his permission to reinterpret them. The resulting watercolours are a dialogue between two artists—one using a camera, the other a brush—each capturing the essence of the monsoon through a different lens. 

This method reaches its poignant peak in ‘Fading into Becoming’, a work inspired by her own travel photograph. It depicts two women on a river ghat—one a widow in a plain white saree, the other in vibrant colour—standing together yet lost in their own worlds. Shalini clarifies that the ghat is not specific to one location; it is an archetype, a universal stage for human contemplation and contrast. By lifting these moments from a personal or shared photographic archive, she universalizes them, allowing her own memories to resonate with the collective experiences of her viewers. 

The Cinematic Gaze: Painting in Moving Pictures 

In a beautiful reversal of influence, Shalini’s work draws profound inspiration from the world of cinema, particularly the visually rich works of Malayalam auteurs like Bharathan, Shaji N Karun, and P N Menon. Her painting ‘Quiet Contemplation’ is a direct homage, drawn from an iconic frame in Bharathan’s film Amaram. 

She is quick to clarify she does not recreate scenes but absorbs their visual language and emotional weight. Her description of the painting is itself cinematic: a man waking from a hangover on a beach, surrounded by the cacophony of seagulls, in a moment of silent, personal reckoning. By borrowing cinema’s narrative depth and framing, she infuses her static canvases with a powerful sense of before and after, encouraging the viewer to imagine the story unfolding beyond the edges of the frame. 

The Personal as Universal: An Umbrella’s Silent Story 

Perhaps the most touching elements of the exhibition were its most intimate. A small, seemingly simple painting of an umbrella resting against a wall holds a universe of personal history. “That’s my father’s umbrella,” Shalini smiles, unveiling the story behind the object. It belonged to her father, who relied on it steadfastly, even preferring it to a walking stick in his later years. This humble object transcends its function to become a powerful relic of filial love, memory, and resilience. 

Nearby, a three-piece work explores the relationship between a man and his umbrella in three distinct moods, further elevating the everyday object to a subject worthy of artistic trilogy. These pieces underscore the exhibition’s core philosophy: profound meaning and beauty are not found only in grand vistas but are hidden in the quiet, familiar corners of our own lives. 

A Strategic Vision Forged by Legacy 

After a professional career spanning over two decades, Shalini brings a disciplined, strategic approach to her art. “I love to strategise my compositions in advance. This, I believe, is one of my strengths. I know what the painting has to look like and work my way around that vision,” she notes. This precision is evident in the carefully constructed narratives and balanced compositions throughout her work. 

This discipline is part of an artistic legacy. Her first inspiration was her father, the renowned artist and illustrator K Balasubramanian. Theirs was a relationship of mutual respect and occasional artistic disagreement, with him always encouraging her to practice more. The ultimate validation came when he saw her series on traditional homes. His remark, “I always knew you could do it,” remains her most cherished compliment—a passing of the torch that adds a deeper layer of meaning to every architectural detail she paints. 

‘More than just rains…’ ultimately succeeds because it is deeply honest. It is a journey through Shalini B Menon’s inner world—a world where the monsoon is the key that unlocks memories of place, family, cinema, and light. It challenges us to not just see the rain, but to feel what it washes to the surface of our own minds. It is a powerful reminder that the most compelling art does not show us something new, but helps us see what we have already lived with new, more insightful eyes.