As a gay man facing deportation to his native India a year ago due to issues with his work permit, Sudbury artist Tarun Godara was not in a good place.
With suicidal thoughts at the thought of returning to his less-than-accepting home country, Godara started painting, channelling that pain into his art.
Around the same time, Godara happened to attend an exhibit opening at the Art Gallery of Sudbury, and got to talking with curator Demetra Christakos, who invited him to put on a show. He told her he’d be “down for that” if he didn’t get deported.
As it turned out, Godara’s deportation was put on hold, although he has another hearing coming up on the matter in May.
He got right to work, creating a series of paintings and sculptures which are on display through the Art Gallery of Sudbury until April 26.
“Thirteen-year-old me could not have imagined just being here, in this time, having a gallery full of my work and people to appreciate it,” he said. “I never saw this happening, and thanks to the gallery and Demetra, I'm able to do this. It’s actually brilliant.”
The exhibit features a series of self-portraits, many of them featuring the colour red, symbolizing his mental pain.
One of his favourites is a self-portrait with moths superimposed on his face — he said he found the beautiful moth, dead, at a friend’s house, and he’s trying to show that he finds value in something that others do not.
In painting self-portraits, Godara is symbolizing the self-acceptance he is working towards as he deals with the trauma of his life.
Many of the paintings in the exhibit are male nudes.
“Nudity, I see it as fragility and vulnerability,” Godara said. “If there were more clothes, I would feel that person is hiding himself or herself. But when you're nude, everything is out there. People can see every single bit of you and your darkest and deepest emotions and facts of your life.”
Some of the pieces in his exhibit are large human figures made from cardboard pieces. Godara said one of them was actually stored in his bed in his apartment before the show opened, while he slept on his futon. He’s since been able to reclaim his bed.
The exhibit is all about “what makes us human - our emotions, our trauma, our past, our hopes and aspirations, but also wanting to be free, wanting to be yourself, dealing with loss, loving yourself, just every aspect of being human,” he said.
Godara said he’s been creating art his whole life, although when he lived in India, his parents expected him to become an engineer.
He came to Canada eight years ago as an international student, studying art and design at Cambrian College, graduating in 2019.
Godara has since worked as an art instructor for Cambrian as well as the Art Gallery of Sudbury, has done murals alongside Sudbury artist Monique Legault, and has even worked as a court artist for local media.
Given his current state of immigration limbo, Godara said he’s currently doing volunteer work for a business in the downtown core. Seeing many vulnerable people there, Godara said it’s his goal to eventually study social work.
Art Gallery of Sudbury curator Demetra Christakos said Godara’s artwork is “very open, honest and generous.”
“At the opening, people would circle the exhibition, and they were crying by the end,” she said. “That's the power of the work, is that it transmits that information through the experience of seeing it.”
If you’d like to take in Godara’s exhibit, it’s on display at the Art Gallery of Sudbury’s location at 174 Elgin St. until April 26. Learn more on the gallery’s website.
Heidi Ulrichsen is Sudbury.com’s assistant editor. She also covers education and the arts scene.