A Happy Tunnel To Houston

A Happy Tunnel To Houston

Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee is taking the US by storm with her artwork, The Aquarius Art Tunnel, that is centred on marine conservation. She has just won the People's Choice CODAworx award for art in public spaces

Text: Farzana Contractor

his Bombay girl living in Houston has done India proud. Very proud. Should you be USA bound and taking a flight to George Bush Intercontinental Airport, you will see what I mean. Right there at the airport is a happy, vibrant piece of art that extends the entire length of no less than 250 ft. Yeah, an immersive art installation, aptly titled, The Aquarius Art Tunnel created by our very own Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee and dedicated to marine conservation, a subject very close to her heart.

She studied art at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, living there between 2005 and 2009 when she graduated and returned home to Bombay. She immersed herself in learning various techniques, even creating some of her own.

Then Janavi married legal eagle Chris, son of Paul Folsmbee, who was  the Consul General of USA in Bombay and moved to Houston in 2012, calling it her new home. She adapted to the Texan way of life, like fish to water, not knowing what an important role that idiom would soon play in her life. She was already painting away fast and furious at her own studio, making murals for her adopted city, holding global shows of her works in Bombay, Beijing, London, Amsterdam, Dubai, and other parts of the United States, when she bagged the honour from among 347 artists, to create one of the 10 art commissions awarded by the Houston Airport System. The project is inspired by one of the 15 USA marine sanctuaries, The Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary that lies just off the coast of Texas.

The Aquarius Tunnel inaugurated just a few months ago has been a big hit with both the international travellers passing through, as much as with the marine science community for its educative value, endorsed also by UNESCO for the same reason.

So how did Janavi reach this stage? Last we knew, she was a teenage prodigy whose first art exhibition, when she was merely 16, was being inaugurated by Nita Ambani. Who was writing a column for Afternoon, the popular and well-respected newspaper of Bombay, notwithstanding the dyslexic condition that she was facing and in fact overcoming it beautifully.

“Well, what can I say? My life changed after I started diving in 2007 when I first went to Lakshadweep. Right until then, I was quite unsure of who I was, where I was heading. But going underwater changed everything for me. The beautiful world under the sea just captured me, my senses, my very being. I was one with my breath. I had arrived. I was home. I was calm. I knew what I wanted. There was no more confusion in my life,” says Janavi.

The scuba diving continued. Janavi was going wherever she could; Great Barrier Reef, Red Sea off Egypt, Papua New Guinea, Maldives, to diving spots in the middle of nowhere in the Indian Ocean and of course off Texas. Each experience enriched her. She was constantly learning. She was an artist and diver totally enamoured by the variety and colours of the flora and the fauna, the sheer beauty of the sea and all that it held and stood for. She was making mental notes when was diving and sketching in her book in between dives. She wanted to give life to what non-divers could not see or ever understand.

And then somewhere along, her focus shifted. Her dives became more meaningful. She started to see how endangered the delicate corals were, how marine life was being shattered due to man’s insensitivities. She started diving with local scientists and biologists which helped her better understand the predicaments unfolding right in front of her. Her new mission was in place. Conservation of marine life. She had to give back. She started working with the marine community and conservation organisations such as the Galveston Bay Foundation and Correa Lab. She was hopeful she would be an instrument to create awareness about the marine world and the struggles it faces.

“I must confess, I have been feeling that the changing world is losing its essence. Now I feel like a messenger. My moments of frustrations are converted to positive vibes when I see fish, when I swim with them, observe little nuances about them. I create my characters by watching them.”

Janavi’s art is vibrant, youthful, and happy. Her art installations are unique. “True, my art is uplifting. I didn’t plan it, just an organic happening,” says the artist laughing. 

 Janavi Mahimtura Folmsbee is a sensitive human being. Water connects us all, she says. It is that sensitivity that makes her want to live in a world of various oceans, which are all interconnected. “The waterways of the oceans are all one, aren’t they? And should we all not be one, too?” She questions. She is hopeful and has immense faith that with art, beauty and awareness we humans are capable of doing so much more for our oceans and our environment, our very living.

Janavi was in Bombay recently to visit her parents, meet friends, catch up, generally. We are now seated in her home in the terrace garden, up on the 7th floor, overlooking the Arabian Sea. A view that inspired her phenomenally all her growing years, informs Janavi.

So what is the first catching up that she does? “Oh, eat food, lots of it!” exclaims Janavi. Yes, she is a big foodie. Always has been. Her mum, Shahnaz does spoil her silly. The table is laden with all of Janavi’s favourite dishes. Apart from crab curry and prawn masala, biryani and other meaty dishes, it’s also the vegetables that she misses back in the States. Like gavar, the cluster beans, which one doesn’t find there. I laugh when Janavi tells me, “Strangely, when I am deep down in the ocean and I see colour, I remember food, many food memories assail me. I even hear and smell food!”  

Does she enjoy her trips to Bombay? “It’s good being back here, it’s home, but Bombay's not the same, I won't lie. Something has changed and it’s more than just the dirty streets,” sighs Janavi. But like she says, it's about dad, mum, sister, brother and her grandmother! It’s about Saher Agiary around the corner and the smell of the Fire Temple. It’s about the snails her mother asks her to go feed to the fish and tiny turtles in the well at the Fire Temple, when she feels a bit low. “Go, do the well!” the mum commands! Janavi’s mother is a Parsi Irani and Janavi has had her holy ceremony of Navjyot done, when a child.

What about back in Houston, what’s culinary life out there? “Oh, my God! Houston has some amazing restaurants. It is now among the best foodie-cities of America. Value-for-money, too. We are constantly eating out. Chris loves it and so do I. We are both Taureans and both foodies. Our circle of friends which comprise artists, curators and lawyers are all mad about food and are always going to check out new restaurants.” Includes fine-dining, too. Janavi mentions a few favourites; Jun, an Asian, Tex-Mex fusion place. Shun, Japanese, where the sashimi is flown in every day from Japan (she can’t figure how), Uchi and Uchiko, also Japanese. Cuchara is for Sunday brunches. Lastly, she mentions Coltivare, an Italian American restaurant which serves the best flatbread, pizzas, pastas, salads. She swears they serve the best gin & tonic, too, and a refreshing Texan grapefruit cocktail, using its rind. Oh, well. It seems we will have to go check out the Aquarius Art Tunnel soon!

So what is a day in the life of the artist in her adopted city? “I begin my day with a regular brewed coffee with honey from a farm in Florida, it’s lovely, infused with real raspberry. Then I eat a black tapenade sesame seed cracker and two Persian cucumbers..."

Then she goes and answers her emails, meditates for 20 minutes, works out for an hour. Swims in her pool, and hydro rows in her gym. Will do reformer pilates on some days, yoga on others.

Then she showers and heads for her studio, which is down the garden path right on the premises. Her dogs follow her and her four assistants are waiting to get started on her canvases. She works for seven hours from 11 am to 5 pm and then she is done.

“I have music at the studio, I work conscientiously, don’t know how or where time flies. I work on 7 or 8 paintings simultaneously. One may have the base coat drying, another the primer, another its second or third layer drying, one has to work on many works at the same time,” says Janavi.

The custom-built studio sounds very interesting. It is large, has a 22 ft. high ceiling, and houses a separate room for the kiln used to fire all her ceramic works. It has a state-of-the-art dehumidifier that works on a thermostat and a music system with “kick ass acoustics.”

That was the studio. Now let’s check out Janavi’s kitchen. But before that let me tell you this is the house that Chris and Janavi built, so it’s  made to suit their needs, totally. Chris is a successful acquisition lawyer and supports Janavi enormously. With a diplomat for a dad, he was born in Switzerland and grew up all over Africa; Tanzania, Gabon, Haiti, Kenya. As also Sri Lanka and India. “In that, he is as American as I am,” quips Janavi. “But then we both feel we are like world citizens,” she adds.

So back to the kitchen. It's where she does spend a great deal of time. The Folmsbees always have friends over, always entertaining. So they bought the largest refrigerator they could find, which is a Wolfe – Sub Zero with a 98" wide door. And they have two dishwashers, one just would not suffice. A giant walk-in pantry which is stocked with every ingredient you would ever need. The six-burner smart stove operates on WiFi and a  grill that Chris uses all year round. The large dining table, of course, seats many.

“It is a dream kitchen. And my friends love it when I cook prawn patia, dhansak and aush, stuff I learnt from my grandma."

“Anything missing in life?” I ask Janavi my final question. “No, not really. But we must love one another more. The world is a beautiful place and we must care for it. The oceans are our lifeline, that must never be forgotten,” says the girl-woman who is diving somewhere off Honduras, even as I am keying this in.