In Real Life with Bahnny Das—Artistic engineer

I recently heard vulnerability researcher Brené Brown say that humans are feeling beings who occasionally think, and that sentiment is apropos for this week’s guest. Bahnny Das is exploring human emotions through art—specifically by painting inanimate objects—sunflowers.  

A software engineer by trade, Bahnny told me coding and art go together, and they each feed her soul in different ways.  

“I can draw unlimited parallels between painting and coding, which takes the better part of my day at work. Art has deeply influenced the career path that I’ve chosen, and in a way, I think the career path that I’ve chosen also helps me create more and develop newer ideas for my paintings,” she said.  

When we spoke, Bahnny shared several of her sunflower paintings, which range from darkness to denial to hope, and they’re all impressive depictions which act as a medium for emotions that are up to the interpretation of the viewer. And that’s the beauty of art—the artist may have one intent in mind, but everyone who engages with it will have different interpretations based on life experiences, world view, and cultural aspects.  

Bahnny hopes to take the finished series on display in an exhibition. “I'm hopeful that once the entire series is done, when they are viewed together, it’ll be more intuitive and I won’t have to put any footnotes that say, ‘this is what I was really thinking about.’” 

As an engineer myself, I know that people often think we’re not necessarily creative types. But I meet so many wildly creative individuals on In Real Life, and it excites me to see the variety of ways people use their creative sides to inspire others, give back, and recharge their own internal batteries. Thanks for sharing your art with us, Bahnny, and we can’t wait to see your exhibition.