Her paintings also have been exhibited at the Arts & Letters Club, as well as at other venues in Toronto, New York and India.
Her artwork – whether representational or more abstract -- shows several phases of style, subject and palette. But she doesn’t like to interpret her own creations. “I prefer to let the viewer read between the lines and colours and tell their own stories."
Suparna studied painting, from the age of 11, under the eminent Indian painter Abani Sen, thus "fulfilling my mother's dream by making it my own." She also composed long Hindi poetry with her father.
Today, Suparna's readings often are accompanied by the sitar, the haunting stringed instrument of Hindustani classical music. "I always felt intuitively that my poetry was attuned to music. I think other instruments and types of music would also lend themselves to my writing."
As for her daily life, Suparna says she was fortunate to find work so deeply satisfying. Being an adjudicator on Federal and Provincial tribunals for over 20 years made her aware of many realities. “While the work provided the financial means for the other aspects of my life, it also gave me an insight into many lives from a multitude of other countries."
Suparna came to Canada with an understanding of “multiculturalism” as speaking and living several languages, scripts and cultures. She grew up in North India and New Delhi, where people from many regions of India amalgamated.
At a Christian missionary school, she studied with Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Jain students. In her own family, she was immersed in English, Hindi, Bengali, German, French, Indonesian, and the ancient languages of Sanskrit and Pali.
And in her 15 years of doing a radio programme in Canada, Suparna freely used English, Hindi, Bengali or Urdu during open-line talk shows. One highlight was a call from a woman of Chinese origin, brought up in Calcutta's Chinatown, now settled in Canada. "She said my show helped fulfill her longing for memories of India,” says Suparna. “The large world is small indeed."
Though they are Hindu, Suparna and her family enjoy religious festivities like Christmas. She felt it was important to make her kids feel included in the spirit of a new land when they came to Canada.
"I believe celebrating each other, inter-marrying, seeing similarities rather than differences, and using religion to unite rather than divide, are the only ways in which polarizing of the world would end."
