Robin Rose:

A self-made mural painter

By Husna Inayathullah

A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.

Some wall paintings are painted on large canvases, which are then fixed to the wall. Whether these works can be accurately called "murals" is a subject of some controversy in the art world but the technique has been in common use since the late 19th century.

Rose Robin born in 1979 in Britain but she has lived for most of her life in France she loves to paint and travel. Her main occupation as an artist is painting murals. She has displayed her murals in France, America, England, Central America, Canada and Europe. She is a documentary film-maker as well. She had been travelling since 2003.

She has alone film documentaries about the countries she visits, the people she meets and the community she works with.

Rose Robin told Montage, "I try to give people from all walks of life a voice. Helping people from other countries get first-hand knowledge about what is going on in the countries I visit. I do murals to inspire happiness. I have been doing murals for eight years in the Third World countries.

A month back I did a mural in Jaffna. Now I am planning to paint a wall in Colombo as well with the main theme of marine conservation and I am looking for a wall for it."

She said, "When I was eight years old my parents met with an accident and they were not able to work thereafter. As we did not have an income I was not sent to school.

I worked in a house of a well-known American artist called Alexander Wintessteen, Professor of Parson School of Art, Paris and Ray Browne, Professor of University of Los Angeles. I started painting and plastering in their house."

"I was very lucky to be under them. They realised that I had a great artistic talent. I gained a lot of experience from them. When I was 23 they helped me to get a scholarship to go to a university in the New York City to follow a three year degree in arts.

I did not gain anything at the university. I started teaching the lecturers. I realised that they were only money-minded. They were not able to produce good artists. After three months I told them that I wanted to leave the university."

Robin has done many private collections and she has gained many awards too. In 2009 a documentary film "The Fairytale Experiment" won an Indie Award of Merit Feature Documentary and an Accolade Award of Merit Feature Documentary. The documentary is up on IMDB and is being distributed by Indie Flix.

Robin painted a mural in Jaffna. She painted this mural after hearing about the end of the 25 year long terrorism. She wanted to give something nice to the people of Jaffna. She started on December 5 and completed it on December 23, 2014. The materials were provided by local business men.

"I wanted to be a teacher. In 2003 I started a non- profit organisation called the painting pirates club in Mexico.

I started studying the Third World countries without any funds and help. I am not so religious but I do community service. I go to places where there were traumas and catastrophes and try my best possible to calm and make people happy and I think that murals is a great way.