Dubai artist portrays the Emirate like you’ve never seen before

Art by Amrita Sethi  will showcase a taster of her hotly-anticipated Voice Note Art © series at Art Dubai this month, producing interactive, UAE-inspired collector’s items that visitors can take home for free. Merging sound, sight and the spirit of Dubai, she will produce smaller, beautifully customised, on-the-spot versions of her new full-sized, hand-painted collection.

Visitors to the art fair’s Oman Insurance Company & Bupa Global lounge will have the chance to be part of a sensory, live art activation. After the visitor says their name into a voice recorder booth, an image of the shape of the sound waves of the voice will appear on a screen, Amrita and her team will then merge the lines of the sound waves with Amrita’s original artwork by adding features synonymous with Dubai, including it’s legendary skyline. The piece will be created on fine art paper and framed for the visitor to take with them. It will be finished off by Amrita personally handwriting the visitor’s name and signing the artwork herself, producing a one-off collector’s piece by the artist.

Amrita says of the personalised sensory experience: “By saying their name, the voice of the person is interconnected with the voice of Dubai to create a deeply unique and customised artwork instantaneously, an artwork that captures the spirit and essence of Dubai through the voice of that person.”

Amrita Sethi

This activation is expected to give art lovers a taste of her full-size collection: painted originals as well a set of hand-made limited edition works produced on white wooden panels with unique and intricate detailing to create texture and depth. The collection will also offer customised options.

The Voice note Art © series is one of two inaugural collections by the artist. The second, named the Global Collection draws on Amrita’s diverse cultural background. Born and raised in Kenya, Amrita is a British citizen of Indian origin who has lived in Dubai, Zimbabwe, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Switzerland.

The talented alumni of the University of the Arts London, one of the best art and design colleges in the world, explains: “In a globalised world it’s not as simple as it seems to answer that all important question: ‘Where are you from? Born in one country, living in another, being able to align yourself and understand multiple cultures and languages, many people have more than one identity.

“The impact of migration have merged communities in so many ways that, within one family, different generations can have such contrasting cultural understanding and references.”

Her Global Collection celebrates her worldwide roots while being anchored in Dubai – which has been her home for 12-years. Amrita blends international references with vibrant colour ways to honour The UAE’s Year of Tolerance, combining nationality with cultural identity, tradition with modernity and brands with traditional symbols, in a dynamic and playful way.

As well as appearing at the Oman Insurance Company & Bupa Global lounge at Art Dubai during March 20-23, both The Voice note Art © series and the Global Collection will be showcased and available for purchase on Art by Amrita’s new website, which will be launched on March 17th.

Born and raised in Kenya, Amrita is a British citizen of Indian origin. She has lived in Dubai for 12 years and has also resided in Zimbabwe, Uganda, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Amrita’s art reflects her international diversity and combines the sweetness of traditions with the energy of a modern world, to showcase the rich layers that can make up a country’s identity and a person’s character.

After a successful career, spanning 15 years, in some of the world’s largest multinational banks and insurance companies, Amrita left the corporate world for a more entrepreneurial calling, working independently as a wealth advisor and money coach. Her services offered holistic wealth and insurance advice to high net worth families. Creatively she also decided to follow her passion for art, which has led to the creation of the two collections that she will launch in March 2019.

Amrita studied Mixed Media at Central Saint Martins, part of the University of the Arts London (UAL). She also holds an MSC in Development Economics and a BA Hons degree in Economics from The University of Manchester in the UK.

The President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, declared 2019 as the “Year of Tolerance.”  Both the Voice note art and the Global Collection are a celebration of the people of the UAE as they come from various nationalities and beliefs.   In the Voice note art collection there is a ‘Year of Tolerance’ Voice Note Art which will celebrate how the UAE has built bridges of tolerance, peace and hope amongst its citizens and how its home to people from many countries and religions. The Global Collection is a more colorful and vibrant celebration of this. For example, the artwork titled ‘Arab Cool’ combines Emirati traditional wear with the Philippine flag and signifies how these two cultures not only live side by side together but how it creates something beautiful and unique. There will be limited edition series, signed and numbered by myself and are really unique – they will be on wooden panels with special detailing that brings depth and texture to the artwork. Amrita’s artwork will only be showcased at the Oman Insurance Company & Bupa Global lounge at Art Dubai.  Art lovers who wish to be a part of such a fantastic event to witness display of creativity must mark their calendar of March and be at the event to be a part of creative gatherings at the Oman Insurance Company & Bupa Global lounge.