Portfolio

Umayal Annamalai is a Charlotte-based mixed media artist whose work explores the sacred intersections of identity, belonging, and feminine sovereignty.Through color, movement, and the rhythmic language of kolam, she transforms pain into power and boundaries into bridges of connection, inviting others to return home to themselves in harmony and wholeness.

Drawing from her South Indian Tamil roots, Umayal integrates kolam a traditional art of sacred geometry and rhythm with abstract expressionism to explore how boundaries create belonging.

Her work centers on healing, belonging, and feminine sovereignty, drawing from intuitive abstraction, and somatic creative practice. As both an artist and cultural bridge-builder, she supports individuals and communities in reconnecting to emotional expression, embodied safety, and authentic selfhood.

As an artist, Umayal’s practice explores the interconnectedness of ancestral memory, identity formation, and the energetic patterns that shape belonging. Through kolam-inspired geometric forms, layered textures, movement, and color, she creates visual and sensory environments that invite viewers to feel  not just look. Her series investigate boundaries as sites of protection, connection, and transformation.

Artist Statement

My work explores the relationship between boundaries, belonging, and feminine sovereignty. I create art as a way of remembering the self returning to the body, the breath, and the voice that once felt unsafe to express.

After the loss of my father in 2020, grief opened a doorway to unprocessed childhood trauma and emotional suppression. Art became my language when words felt impossible. Through color, line, and movement, I learned to meet myself with compassion and rebuild a sense of safety from within. Creativity was not simply healing it was reclamation.

I work across drawing, painting, movement-based mark-making, and Kolam the ancient Tamil ritual art traditionally drawn at the threshold of the home. Kolam teaches impermanence, devotion, and the daily practice of harmony. I am currently exploring how this ephemeral art can be reinterpreted through printmaking, transforming what was once meant to disappear into a lasting imprint. This process mirrors the heart of my work: transmuting past experiences into new forms of expression, meaning, and connection.

My art centers the truth that boundaries create belonging. When we honor the edges of who we are, we make space for authentic connection within ourselves, with others, and with community. The figures and forms in my work embody layered emotional histories, resilience, and the quiet power of choosing oneself.

I call my practice Soul Harmony Art a space where ancient wisdom, memory, and contemporary narrative meet. Through it, I seek to restore the inner sense of wholeness that allows us to love without losing ourselves, to be in relationship without abandoning our truth, and to belong without shrinking our spirit.

My work is an invitation to embody every version of you to remember, reclaim, and root into your sovereign, creative, and interconnected self.