By Joel Weiner
She’s a painter, sculptor and ceramicist. A teacher and author. One of Canada’s Top 100 Most Powerful Women, according to the Women’s Executive Network. And now, Kanika Gupta is a new neighbour in Lowertown, having chosen to live in our community when she and husband Amit Kehar moved from Toronto to the nation’s capital just six months ago.
It was a job opportunity for Amit that brought Kanika here. A cinematographer and director, he was recently hired by the National Gallery of Canada to develop its video content strategy. For Kanika, though, relocation to Ottawa was a homecoming of sorts since she was born and raised in this city. She left about a dozen years ago, first for higher education and then to work, mainly in the field of international development and social entrepreneurship. Eventually, those travels took her to Toronto where, in 2013, she had a severe concussion that left her struggling to read, watch TV, or use a computer, and living with debilitating fatigue, chronic pain and hypersensitivity to noise and light.
Largely bedridden and isolated from the world at the time, Kanika’s escape key came one day in the form of a paintbrush, a piece of canvas, some acrylic paints and urging from her mother to give art a try. “It was an immediate, magical connection,” she recalls today. “I had to struggle to read then but it was easy to paint, even though I had absolutely no training.”
Recognizing how art not only helped her cope but was also a tool for working through her changing reality, Kanika began to write about her experience. Since then, she’s published numerous articles as well as given interviews and lectures, all aimed at helping others deal with life’s challenges, including the ongoing effects of a concussion. That condition, known as post-concussion syndrome, is not only persistent but also widespread in the population at large.
In addition, Kanika continued to make art, using not only paint but also ink, clay and film. Today, she is a full-time artist whose work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and hospitals across North America and presented in curated public art installations at train stations, parks and art festivals. And she’s also Artist in Residence at the Ottawa School of Art on George Street. Just as she is not defined by her injury, neither is her artwork, which reaches out on the topics of hope and human connection.
This month, she will be breaking new ground once again when Volume 1 of BRAVE, a 100 page mini-book,hits the bookstands. Drawing parallels of post-concussion life with the comic depictions of a superhero, BRAVE celebrates the daily acts of courage taken to carry on following a traumatic brain injury.
“This format simplifies a complex, often misunderstood medical condition by presenting otherwise clinical and heavy information in a light and encouraging manner,” Kanika explains. “Volume 1 will be followed by many others, each a chapter in a story that addresses common myths about post-conclusion syndrome, and the bold but simple graphics will help readers who live with reading and visual processing challenges.”
Lowertown neighbours can meet Kanika when BRAVE is released in a public book launch at Books on Beechwood (35 Beechwood Avenue) from 3-5 pm on November 24. She’ll be able to walk to the event from her home, one of her joys about living in “The Wedge,” the pie-shaped slice of Lowertown bounded by St. Patrick Street, King Edward Avenue and the Rideau River.
“In Toronto, we lived in the downtown core and everything we required was close at hand,” Kanika explains. “We walked everywhere and had easy access to public transit when we needed it. We also loved the diversity. We were looking to duplicate that situation in Ottawa and we found it in Lowertown.”