Tag: art

Embracing the storyteller

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. …

The Untold Edition — what really happened

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 …

TAABIR — Artists Collective

Outsider art. It’s an interesting term. Used to describe art produced by untrained people or people beyond the sphere of the art world. Personally, I think that the term should have been unnecessary and it is unfortunate that it isn’t so. Art shouldn’t be elitist; it shouldn’t require qualification or expertise to produce. If something is created with the intention of evoking, communicating and connecting, it should suffice as art no matter the expertise or background of the creator. I understand the other half of the debate too though. What about all the development of skill and hard work artists …

The Untold Edition — Phases of Planning Part 2

Picking up where we left off: I then made an event on Facebook so that people could share it and express their interest. It’s also a way for me to keep the interest going by posting as the event date nears. I had to think about how to make this exhibition interactive. Interacting with an audience is something that has been on my mind since before I began this MA. When I started to take art more seriously in my life, I made a Facebook page. Posting there periodically spurred me to create more and more art. So you could …

The Untold Edition — Phases of planning part 1

I’ve always known that community work is important to me. I think growing up with a dad like mine cultivated that in me. He’s an eye surgeon and his hobby is to host eye camps in the rural areas of Pakistan where people suffer from curable diseases like cataract and spend their whole lives blind. I watched him perform 200 cataract operations a day for nothing and then spend the weekend sleeping on the roofs of clay houses. He enjoyed every moment of it. I saw the looks on those faces when their bandages were unwrapped and they blinked in …