Renowned Christian artist, Salesian Missionaries of Mary Immaculate Sister Claire died on February 11 in Bengaluru. She was 82. The Hindu convert to Catholicism was unwell for the last few days.
The sister, who always wanted to be known as Sr Claire SMMI, had created more than 2,000 Christian paintings using water colour, enamel paints, posture colours and colour pens. She also drew more than 1,000 Christian and Easter greeting cards. The main focus of her paintings was Christian imagery rooted in the Indian soil. She drew inspiration to paint from the day-to-day life of the common people in India, she said in an interview last year.
The artist nun was born in a high caste Hindu family in Tirupati, a Hindu pilgrim centre in the southern Indian State of Andhra Pradesh. Her parents named her Meera, a Hindu mystic poet and a devotee of Lord Krishna. As a young girl, Meera sought spirituality.
