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The blog documenting my journey as I complete a Masters of Visual Arts from University of the Arts London, 2017-2019
Date: 13th June, 2018 with Gareth Polmeer This was a tutorial we had in the summer. At that time the research question that occurred me was “What is art”, of course that is an immensely vast topic but it was a starting point. Here are the notes of the tutorial:
Thanks to three month long summer vacations in Jeddah, the rhythm of my blog was completely thrown off. I ended up writing blogposts in my head on planes, while running after kids, in meetings and even while painting! But never got a chance to actually post them here. I did write down all the topics I want to write about, though, so that I don’t accidentally miss out a blogpost. Here’s another reason why I haven’t returned too frequently to the blog of late. I am officially freaked out by the upcoming end of Unit 1. Random, frightened thoughts are …
This project has consumed the last few months of my creative energy. So much work has gone into conceptualizing and executing it that it is difficult for me to even pen it down. I am literally answering emails and in meetings at all hours trying to set things up with collaborators and coordinate with team members and participants, approving and creating graphics, getting stuff printed and god knows what else. It has literally been so much work that last week I reached the point where I asked myself the question we often ask in the middle of a painting that …
You know what can be terrifying sometimes? Realizing that you have so many interests, passions and ambitions that you end up feeling totally unfocused. Four years ago I picked art and I have the consistency disease. I literally stick by what I choose through thick or thin. So while the fear was always there, so was art. I wouldn’t give it up, even in the moments where I felt I was a fake, pretending to be an artist. But you know what that did? That sole, blinders-on kind of focus made me exclude some of my other interests as important. …
When I started this MA, my work was divided into two veins. There was my self-taught, studio practice stemming from completely random inspiration, shared with the audience only after it had been edited into material I deemed fit for an audience. Then there were my community projects; an un-choreographed intermingling of me as an artist with my audience. The objectives of these two divisions of my practice were also totally different. Studio practice was sold, or gifted, or simply kept in a folder to look back on. Community projects were small sparks intended to impart a love for art, inspire …