Advanced Fiber Studio (Highlights)
I am a Pakistani American born in Pakistan and raised in the US by my adoptive parents. My circumstance inspires my work.
I am proud of my birth country, which is why I try so hard to connect with it and show it in a positive light through my art.
I am inspired by political figures and poets who speak about the struggle against oppression in Pakistan. My art features narratives and conversations about what it means to have a Pakistani identity. I am interested in language and translation, and in meanings of names and the relationships created by their placement.
I paint landscapes and architectural pieces using intense, bright colors. I create pieces made out of fabric combining textiles with painting and embellishment. My recent work incorporates Arabic and Urdu with personal meaning to create visually interesting pieces.
Beauty has always been an important aspect of my work whether it is the beauty of the idea or of the form. I look at what makes people happy, what inspires them. Hope, change, motivation: these things are beautiful to me.
Being in America is my opportunity as a Pakistani to show the beauty of a country that worked to gain its freedom. I carry guilt of not having struggled with the people that I think so highly of. I have sympathy for those less fortunate, especially the orphans that could have been me, whose lives didn’t turn out the way mine did.