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Indra Persad Milowe, an internationally recognized Salem-based visual artist, has traveled extensively to inspire her highly celebrated artwork.

Her most recent exhibition, “Beautiful Ubud, Bali”, is on display at the Topsfield Library through Feb. 16 and explores Milowe’s second three-week trip as an artist in residence in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.

During her first visit, Milowe had the opportunity to attend a traditional Balinese wedding, a baby ceremony, and a five-day Odalan Festival. This most recent trip, a 10-day Galungan and Kuningan Festivals — holidays celebrated every 210 days in Bali.

“It’s absolutely beautiful. Nearly everywhere you turn, there’s a shrine,” said Milowe. “The first day you’re walking out there, you might think, ‘This place looks like it needs a new paint job’. But if you look closer and admire the offering to Lord Ganesh, and flowers, and garlands, you’ll eventually have to ask, ‘What’s more important? The glitter of the walls or the actual heart of the place?’”

Much of Milowe’s artwork explores the intersection of the social and spiritual; ceremonies, festivals, weddings, traditional art forms and symbols; and other traditional events or practices from around the world.

While Milowe retired after 40 years of general, ophthalmic, and psychiatric nursing in 2019, her time working with British Nurses Overseas allowed her the opportunity to work in countries with many different culturally distinct identities, inspiring her to return to the art world to share her experiences with others. Milowe’s own childhood growing up in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1950s and ‘60s, has also served as a huge source of inspiration for her work.

Milowe’s exhibits, inspired by her time as an artist-in-residence and visits to countries like Singapore, Morocco, Costa Rica, and others, have received international attention and praise. Her work is regularly featured in the Rotunda Gallery in Trinidad and Tobago, and she is a regular contributing artist and member of Art Impact International in Washington, D.C.

After creating art inspired by her Trinidadian upbringing, Milowe quickly realized that this type of culturally inspired art was not only rewarding, but popular. One of her first exhibitions, “Festivals and Folklore of Trinidad, West Indies,” explores every single festival in Trinidad and Tobago through painting.

“In the Hindu religion, festivals mean a lot. Every festival has a different food, a different theme, and things like that. So I painted every single festival in Trinidad and Tobago, and I quickly realized that not many people do this type of art. I started getting all this press and coverage because it’s not your (typical) painting subject that you might see, because usually very few people will think about traditions,” said Milowe.

In Salem, Milowe received two grants from the Public Art Commission to paint two public art exhibitions titled “Kailash” and “Mirabai”. “Kailash” is a painted electrical box in Derby Square named after Mount Kailash, a mountain regarded as holy in Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Bon. “Mirabai”, named after a 16th century Hindu mystic poet and saint who authored over 1,400 poems and devotional songs, is a set of 22 colorfully painted ballards. Kailash was featured as a backdrop in the reality TV cooking series “Man vs. Food” on the Travel Channel.

One of the paintings featured in the “Beautiful Ubud, Bali” exhibit is titled “Penjors Adorn the Sky” and illustrates the tall, curved poles of bamboo adorned with decorations that are placed outside virtually every building in Bali during Galungan to express gratefulness for daily blessings and to honor the deceased.

“I think the best part is the week before (Galungan) because everybody is coming together and making their own penjors in preparation,” said Milowe. “You’ll see everybody in their driveway with bamboo working on them every day, and then suddenly everybody puts theirs up all at once.”

Whether you’re traveling to another country to find inspiration or simply trying to take in as much of a foreign culture as you can, Milowe says that prior research is of crucial importance.

“When you’re traveling, you have to go all in, it’s the only way that you’re going to learn everything. I wore a traditional sarong everyday, and I found that people treated me differently because I was dressed properly, they could identify with me because they saw that I was making an effort. It’s very important to do some homework before you go to a foreign country,” Milowe explained.

“Beautiful Ubud, Bali” will be on display in the Topsfield Library through Feb. 16. More of Milowe’s artwork and information on exhibits can be found on her website: https://indrapersadmilowe.com.

Michael McHugh can be contacted at [email protected] or at 781-799-5202

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