Chilli and turmeric put spice into artworks

BEN CAMPBELL

A DIFFERENT APPROACH: Laxmi Jhunjhnuwala uses paint pigment, turmeric and chilli in her art work.

BEN CAMPBELL

CONSTANTLY CHANGING: Mrs Jhunjhnuwala creates her artworks using perspex frames to contain paint pigments.

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Laxmi Jhunjhnuwala's art aims to appeal to more than just the eyes.

The Kohimarama artist says she likes the idea of people not only seeing her art, but also smelling it and sometimes touching it.

She has included chilli and flour in her work and once lined the rim of Auckland University of Technology's stairs with turmeric.

But her latest work, which appeared in the New Zealand Art Show in Wellington last weekend is a play on the senses. "People want to touch it, they want to feel it – but they can't," the mother-of-three says.

Mrs Jhunjhnuwala has created a collection of huge artworks, using just perspex and paint pigment.

She makes massive perspex frames and sprinkles pigment into the middle, before sealing them up. Because the pigment doesn't fill the entire inside of the frame, it moves around whenever the piece moves – forming gaps and bubbles of air.

"So it has its own life – as life changes and is constantly moving."

For Mrs Jhunjhnuwala, who has lived in Kohimarama for nine years, the work is also an expression of her Indian heritage. The spices and aromas they create remind her of home.

Five hundred artists exhibited their work in the NZ Art Show. Visit www.artshow.co.nz. See www.laxmijhunjhnuwala.com to view Mrs Jhunjhnuwala's art.

- © Fairfax NZ News