Shop the Pain Away

Shopping, and particularly fast fashion, can be used in today's society to numb the parts of individuals that feel painful. In order to create this fleeting sense of happiness, one contributes to enormous pain outside of themselves by perpetuating, what the artist calls, a silent violence. Bolle accompanies this artwork with the questions: "If in fact we are all one, meaning if we are part of the same energy, or God, or whatever you choose to call it, then are we destined for this kind of self harm? Is it a way of killing the pain of existence itself? Much like the way that if you stop and really contemplate the idea of dying and being nothing at all, the fear can make you want to die?" 

Shirani Bolle 

London born multi-disciplinary artist Shirani Bolle is the daughter of a Holocaust survivor and a Sri Lankan immigrant; it is the unlikely union of these two backgrounds that has heavily influenced her work. Bolle uses subjects such as war, capitalism, racism, religion and nature, alongside more personal themes, to explore the existential questions on identity and meaning. The artist's work protests against the, often unquestioned, structures of society. Bright, graphic and colourful, they create noisy and brash work that is demonstrative of the deafening, seemingly inescapable society that we have built. Bolle is visually optimistic in her unravelling of the conscious human existence. She combines her art with a knowledge of eastern philosophy to render open-ended questions; of which, society usually suffers from ignoring.

Shirani has exhibited in London and been featured in publications across the UK and Ireland. She currently lives on the West coast of Ireland with her husband and two young daughters.

Based on our agreement with the artist, 15% of the pre-VAT price excluding frames will be donated to support the social movement. Donation will be given to support Doras.