The Artist by Jana M. Noritsch
Jaya by herself
A Word by The ONE Museum Curator
Preparing an exhibition with Jaya has something really unique because it is certainly not like with any other artist. In the 30 or so years that I've been seeing and working with artists, I can assure you that I've seen some of them in all their colours, some really not sad at all, it can even border on burlesque and others really sad as they are so distressing because of an oversized ego, "kingsize" demands that one wouldn't even dare suspect, I could go on and on and on and on...
With Jaya, whom I have known for almost 9 years now, it is very different... so different!, because in fact, it is only love, pure kindness, a certain bliss and almost, dare I say it, candour.
Oh, don't be mistaken, Jaya knows what she wants, she is determined for the causes she defends, for a certain model of life and above all she is a great professional in her artistic work.But this is by no means what we are used to seeing. In fact, Jaya is far too invested in her work to dwell on things that do not interest her directly, on wasting time in relation to the essential values of her life, her creative work and her encounters with people.
So don't expect snoring CVs, convoluted or overrated biographies, for her everything is said in and through her work, in her friendly conversations with the people she meets and loves.In fact, for her the rest is of little importance. She is ready to give you everything she has, just like that out of friendship, out of love, but what she doesn't have, what she really doesn't want to have, what makes her lose precious time for her creations, those inessential things, you will be able to wait for them indefinitely because it's all too futile. A website? what for? apart from wasting time, she has her Facebook page on which she generously shares her creations with her heart, and that's enough. No, Jaya concentrates on the essentials and it is true that for an artist, creation alone should take precedence over all other commercial considerations.
So here they are, a few texts that a friend of Jaya's, Jana Noritsch, has kindly written to her over the years, a text that Jaya was kind enough to write for me eight years ago when I accepted the artistic direction of a Portuguese photography magazine to re-found it, and that I wanted Jaya to be one of the very first to share this adventure (crazy, in every sense of the word!).) by proposing a portfolio of her creations of the time, and these few lines... you won't have much else to read, but it doesn't matter in the end because you have the best, the works of Jaya that will speak to you.
I really fell in love with Jaya's art when I discovered it, it was beautiful, no, it was sublime, at once strong and full of feeling, delicate but also abruptly thrown, there was that touch of romanticism (some may dispute my interpretation), there was this infinite poetry, delicate but meaningful, no mawkishness, pure feeling and so much grace even in the depths of the blacks of perdition than on the sharp edge of the crisp reds. There was also proof of the lived experience and benevolent understanding of the other. You can see at once that her models have this fusion with the artist, that magic works, that they understand each other, no doubt because Jaya is too respectful to judge, but knows how to listen, to understand, to unseal what is touching in the person, what is beautiful in body and mind.
We haven't met for 9 years now. We don't speak to each other every day and yet, when a message arrives, there is always the same joy of speaking to each other again, as if last year had been yesterday, as if we were finally going to meet tomorrow. There is this trust that I believe is mutual and constant.
It is therefore with the greatest pleasure that The ONE Museum welcomes our friend, Jaya, to its doors wide open for this exhibition "Women AND Artists! "whose title defines Jaya so well, she could not fail to be present. Present, she will be even more present next year, in 2022, on the occasion of a very large monographic exhibition which will be entirely devoted to her on more than 2000m2, I am very keen on it and await this moment with great impatience, it will be nothing but happiness, as every time she enchants my eyes with her creations of immense talent and my heart, with her great humanity, her spontaneity and her continuous kindness.
I would like to thank you Jaya because I know that the conditions were difficult for you this time, but I know that once again you have given everything... really a huge THANK YOU, my Friend!
Thierry Gulian
Curator at The ONE Museum