It’s not the Kama Sutra…
How did I get involved? I have had the enormous pleasure of knowing Wendy, president of Samunnat Inc., for quite some time, having met at the Broken Hill Regional Art Gallery, in outback Australia. Through this meeting I was introduced not only to Wendy and Mal, but also to the work of Samunnat and the wonders of polymer clay. When Wendy told me about the planned Nepali version of Where Did I Come From?, I put up my hand and offered to help. Although I have a degree in fine arts, I had never touched on illustration which is an artform of its own, so it was quite a learning curve for me!
I remember thinking about an article I had read about the film maker, George Miller. He had said that of all of the films that he had made, it was Babe, a family movie about a pig that learns to herd sheep, that was the most subversive of them all - and this was coming from the man who made the Mad Max films. The lesson that I took from that was that something can be kind and gentle…and subversive.
Wendy had worked with the Samunnat women on possible content for the pictures during the writing of the book, with some (very) rough drafts. She had previously gifted me a painting by one of the women artists of the town of Janakpur, in southern Nepal. I used this as a basis for the style for the artwork (left and below). I used gouache to copy the flat opaque colour and the basic styling of the face in profile with a front-on eye. This was something that carried on throughout the subsequent second book.
I wanted to use the artwork as a basis for the illustrations to create something that, although very new in terms of its content, would feel familiar. The style settled quite quickly. The Samunnat women gave me a lot of advice regarding the illustrations - clothing for the family, the kohl on the babies' eyes and the fabric pattern on the front cover, a traditional cloth for swaddling babies in Nepal. I had thought that I was sending off rough sketches to get feedback and then do the real thing. Fortunately, the women were very happy with the pictures and they became the real thing!
At the time of doing the illustrations I had given no thought to cultural appropriation - I was aware of what it was but had not applied it to what I was doing. I now realise that my methodology for creating the style of the artwork could be interpreted as such, however I hope that because these are such important books to the health and well-being of children and women, that I will be forgiven for my sins!
Left: Kopila and Wendy looking through the pictures in Kathmandu
With the first book, I was very conscious that a Nepali book about sex education was new and potentially controversial, so I was careful. When you look at the saucy sex scene of the mum and dad in bed you may note that there is a very distinct gap in between the lusty couple! This is in sharp contrast to book two which illustrates the ins and outs of changes of puberty, and has a centrefold of a cross section of sexual intercourse - I have to say that research for book two was very informative to me and I thought I knew it all!
My favourite of all of the illustrations is the one that is used on the female What is Happening to Me? cover when she looks with dismay into the front of her undies - that feeling of dismay in relation to changes that come with puberty is probably universal.
I can say unreservedly that illustrating these two books is the most meaningful and useful thing I have done with my art career thus far. I am honoured that I have been allowed to do my bit to assist with such an important project, which is but a part in the amazing work done at Samunnat. Thank you so much for letting me take part in some of that journey!
[Ed. These books are given to women coming to Samunnat and over 1500 have been sold to Nepali districts who distribute to schools- sometimes for English teaching as well as the more obvious use (the books are in Nepali and English). They are available for sale on this website.]