wish you a long, happy & productive life

wish you a long, happy & productive life is my Master of Fine Arts (MFA) graduate exhibition from Memorial University of Newfoundland. The exhibition took place from September 4–7, 2024, at St. Francis Xavier University Art Gallery in Antigonish, Nova Scotia.

I teach in the art department at StFX and my father taught in its biology department from 1995 until his death in 2023. His ties to the university were first forged in 1965 when he arrived at StFX from Malaysia on a scholarship to complete his undergraduate studies. Holding the exhibition at the StFX Art Gallery meant that many of my father’s friends, colleagues, and family members could see the works.

Below is the artist statement for the exhibition.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The dead live with us. Grief is not a whodunnit story, or a puzzle to solve, but an active and vibrant enterprise. It is hard, honest work.  —Hisham Matar 

My father, Dr. Velautham Karunakaran, known to all as Karuna, died on April 9, 2023, at age 78. The timeline was fast: He was fine, enjoying his life, teaching at St. Francis Xavier University—eight weeks later, he died in palliative care of stage 4 pancreatic cancer. I was devastated. 

An immigrant from Malaysia born to Tamil Sri Lankan parents, my father was a domestic person. In the aftermath of his death, as an artist, it felt right to me to contemplate scenes of his domestic life, where so much of our relationship had been lived. He enjoyed gardening and cooking. He enjoyed pruning his plants. He sought stability and nurture in his home. I am the same way. As immigrants, home is hard earned. 

After he died, I was surprised that my relationship to my father still felt strong, that his death didn’t end his day-to-day presence in my life. I was also surprised by the extent to which my art practice helped me inhabit and process my grief. Through my practice, I found new ways to exist within our relationship.  

The title of the exhibition is the message he wrote me in a card on my fortieth birthday. These words offer me comfort; in them I hear his love, his values, and his perspective on life.