Best of the Maldives: Artistic Accessibility – Amilla Maldives

Amilla - fish ramp

Disabled guests are pretty resourceful so they find a way to manage even if the lay of the land is not the easiest to manage. They live in a world that in many if not most cases is not made to accommodate their impairments. When places make an effort, like adding a ramp for a wheelchair, they are grateful for the consideration and added ease. Many accessibility features are fairly functional affairs bolted on as the need presents itself. But Amilla Maldives has introduced permanent accessibility features with an aquatic themed stylish flair to boot. They have craft fish-shaped ramps to beach villas which replace a total of 5 steps that previously led to the entrance. Swish!

Amilla - ramp

Best of the Maldives: Immersive Art – Patina

Patina - immersive art

Maldives is the ultimate immersion in paradise. Immersed in sunshine. Immersed in the aquatic wonderland. Immersed in Maldivian hospitality and attentive service. The Patina add yet another immersion for its guests: art.

  • “Global icon James Turrell is the wisdom and maverick behind our key piece, Amarta.This autonomous structure explores space and the light that inhabits it. Turrell asks that we also inhabit the space and explore our perception of form. Under the Maldivian sun, the aperture focuses our senses on the pulse and purity of nature.”

Best of the Maldives: Coconut Palm Art Lessons – Sun Siyam Iru Veli

From our very first visit a quarter century ago received all sorts of aboriginal origami creations from staff, but during our visit to Sun Siyam Iru Veli Samaha and Nuhaz actually taught me how to these palm frond are made. They explained that they grew up honing their palm folding skills. Especially, during Eid is a traditional time for youngsters to show off their skills by fashioning the most elaborate designs.  Bodu mas are especially popular during this festive holiday. The first item that Samaha made was a “watch” and a “rose” when she was 8 years old and wrote on it with a needle. She taught me how to make the rose during our tutorial and it came out pretty good if I do say so. The resort also offers these lessons to the younger generation of guests at the resort kids club.

Best of the Maldives: Room Gallery – Oaga

Oaga - room gallery

More resorts feature more artistry from local creatives, and some bring these pieces into the villas, but Oaga features a veritable museum of distinctive art in its Veyoge Gallery Pool Villa room category. And if you are looking for an inspired memento of your ‘night at the museum’, you can purchase the pieces displayed. And even if you don’t buy one, your stay benefits the local artists who graced your space:

  • “Suvāsthi Gallery Art: Revel in the art exhibited on the wall, part of our in-house art collection from Maldivian artists. All the displayed art is acquirable via our Suvāsthi Retail Gallery. Fun fact: For each night spent in this villa, an allocation will be made to the contributing artist community.”

Best of the Maldives: Jellyfish Sculpture – Soneva Jani

Soneva Jani - jellyfish

Happy Halloween! While resorts are adorning their properties with spooky décor for the occasion, Soneva Jani’s main restaurant is permanently bedecked with a hauntingly alluring mobile of ghostly jellyfish. This post is the latest instalment in its catalogue of suspended sea life sculptures so I’ve added the handy “Mobile” tag for them.

Best of the Maldives: Neon Shark – Ritz Carlton Maldives

Ritz Carlton - neon shark

We love seeing sharks in the Maldives…this Neon Bull Shark art installation by Carla O’Brien was an especially bright sighting at the Ritz Carlton Maldives:

  • “This large-scale light art installation is a lifesize depiction of a fully grown female Bull Shark, fabricated from a laser and hand-cut metal and LED Neon Flex, a revolutionary replacement for glass neon. The US-born artist, Carla, is best known for the NEON ANGEL WINGS, which went globally viral in 2016 when Katy Perry posted on social media, a photo of herself ‘wearing’ the Wings at the Burning Man festival in Nevada, the USA, in 2016.”

The piece is part of the resort’s 14 piece art collection of modern works in a variety of media.

Best of the Maldives: Artist Couple in Residence – Cora Cora

Cora Cora - artist couple 1

A number of resorts now feature artists-in-residence, but Cora Cora is the first husband-wife team plying their creativity in family partnership. I had the fortune to meet Shameen during our recent visit (see photo below) and he told me about his intriguing artistic journey. He and his wife Sheenez shared their story with Maldives Complete:

Shameen…

  • How did you get started in art?
    I started when I was young. When I was 7 years, my mother asked if I could draw this photo. I started with pencil. At that time, there were no art classes in the school on the local island. In the school, I was sketching on the paper. People asked if I could paint things for them. When I got to Grade 10, I got to be pretty good. There was a competition for the whole Maldives. I had to go into schools. The competition had a theme of Human Rights so we had to to represent things like domestic violence, etc. I received 3rd place. Then I came to Male. I looked for anybody who taught art, but there was nobody. People suggested going abroad, but I didn’t have the money for that. I continued studying diligently and I went to school for business management. I told my mother that I wanted to have 6 months to do what I wanted. I was 17 years old at the time. I spent all my money (500 rufia) to buy art supplies. I didn’t have good Internet so I went to the library to study books about art. I started painting portraits. I got lots of business doing pencil sketches. I study from my heart, because I love to do it. When I was 18, I wanted to do an exhibition, but I didn’t have the money. But someone saw my work who had a boutique at the Male airport. He also had a school and I started teaching at the school. I could paint a painting in under 8 minutes (and people enjoyed watching me do it). I have painted more than 30,000 paintings. At one point, I had to stop painting and I started driving a taxi, when one of the people I drove was the Director of Cora Cora (Martin). During the ride, I showed my work on the phone and he asked me to paint the Cora Cora paintings
  • Who are some of your favorite artists and influences?
    My wife Sheeneez. She is a good observer so she guides me through making my work more perfect. She has lots of great ideas.
  • How did you meet?
    When I was 17 years, I went library to gather information for an art class. I saw her in the library and saw this beautiful girl. I fell in love at first sight. So I decided to draw her face and give it to her. On the pictures, I wrote my phone number and gave it to her. She messaged me 6 months later and we have been together ever since.
  • How do your styles differ?
    I am mastering in Water color, acrylic colour, Oil colour, Pencil color, Airbrush etc Last 10 years I was into all styles of the painting. I am more into realism style and she has a more modern style.
  • What is your aspiration?
    I’ve opened an art school in Male to teach art to students of all ages. My dream is to grow young artists and give them hope in the art world. We also help with displaying and even marketing their art.

Sheeneez…

  • How did you get started in art?
    Sometime after we met, Shameen started a studio downstairs from my father’s store. I started helping him with the studio doing backgrounds, and eventually he taught me more and more about painting.
  • Who are some of your favorite artists and influences?
    Shameen (obviously!). We teach together at the resort and in Male.  I also like Larssen who does lovely dolphins.
  • How did you meet?
    I had just moved to Male and went to the library with a friend. Within 5 minutes, this young man introduced himself to me.
  • Which is your favorite piece done by the Shameen?
    A modern painting with lots of colours which was his first painting. This one is very special.
  • Which is your favorite piece done by you?
    I never painted a person’s face with colour. So one day I decided to try it doing Bob Marley. I was very proud of it. I was surprised at how well it came out.

Cora Cora - artist couple 2

Cora cora - artist couple 5

Cora Cora - artist couple 4

Cora Cora - artist couple 3

Best of the Maldives: Waste Art – Soneva Fushi

Soneva Fushi - waste art

One person’s trash is another’s person’s treasure, but Soneva Fushi’sMaker Place” works to turn all their trash into everyone’s treasure:

  • “Soneva Fushi, the Maldives’ original barefoot luxury resort, has revealed a ground-breaking new addition to its portfolio of sustainable innovations. Makers’ Place is a fully carbon-neutral island studio that recycles waste plastic and aluminum into works of art, as well as practical objects and building materials. The Makers’ Place studio was built in collaboration with British artist Alexander James Hamilton, an advocate for sustainability and founder of the Distil Ennui Studio™, whose practice spans sculpture, painting, photography, film, lighting and installation.”

One of the advantages of their rustic chic aesthetic is that adapting bits and bobs of all types works in easily.