Dairo Vargas paints with panache and displays a capacity for draughtsmanship not often seen today. Reminiscent in some respects of Futurism, his paintings are characterized by a feeling of constant movement, even dance, with an emphasis on the layers and depths of different emotions. There is a desire to penetrate deep into the psyche and bring feelings and thoughts to the surface. The fluid works seem to vibrate with change.
Yet more than a distinguished artist, what sets Dairo apart is his long-term dedication to using his art to help people with mental or physical difficulties. I caught him just as he was flying off to Nepal to work with displaced and trafficked children, largely from India, who have been kidnapped, sold and abused. Like many people who end up helping others, his urge stemmed out of his own experience:
“I have suffered from depression since I was a child, but I had no idea what was happening to me. In Colombia, these things are not openly expressed…Latino men do not want to display any weakness. So, I never spoke about it and it was only many years later than I managed to overcome it. I grew to realise that my art saved me.”
From the age of 6, Vargas was always drawing and sketching in his home town of Huila. He received his first commission when he was 16 to paint murals in some schools. There followed other commissions in other towns that eventually persuaded him that art was the path he should follow.
“So, I went to Bogotá to study graphic design. I worked for some large advertising agencies but always continued painting and managed to exhibit in some modest shows in Bogotá, until the moment arrived that I decided I wanted to come to London.”
Yet even after becoming a successful artist the issue of mental health never left and in learning to cope with his own problems, Vargas realised the importance of expressing emotions, as a starting point to healing, even if those feelings aren’t expressed in words: -
“I then studied a bit about it and began doing workshops. It makes me feel good to help others turn their lives around. Unnecessary suicides, deaths and misery will continue if we don’t open up and talk; negative ideas can take over our heads and spiral out of control. I wanted to raise awareness on this issue and that is why I do this work.”
Dairo’s work recently drew the attention of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge when they met at The Global Ministerial Mental Health Summit, where he was chosen to attend after years of carrying out these workshops.
“I was recently in Italy working with people with learning difficulties. Some of them had Down’s Syndrome. The Italian government is very proactive, with over 200 institutions where people can go to access help. In Latin America, I don’t think there is anything like that.”
Vargas does not take samples of his own work to show the groups, he paints with them so they can see what he is doing as well, he considers it to be a part of the teaching process.
“The [participants] get so happy in the workshops! When the people manage to express emotions through art, this increases their self- esteem, their self- confidence and of course, in the final exhibition, they have the satisfaction of having finished their work and realizing that they are capable of doing it after all.”
In his native Colombia, Vargas has been working with the Santa María Foundation, here in the UK with Barnardos and even Ascot Rehab, that helps people who have suffered brain damage. He is now also trying to work in prisons:
“Art can have a transformative effect on anyone who has suffered trauma. When they place their emotions onto paper, they can go eliminating them and continue their process of healing. And by doing it together, people don’t feel that they’re alone, which is also important. They become aware that others also suffer…that above all that Art listens… so, now we have a hashtag…#TheArtListens.”
Dairo Vargas is receiving The LUKAS 2019 Award for Contribution to Society.
