Exploring the Artistic Journey of Zarina Hashmi: A Glimpse into the Soul of Paper

Jareena Hashmi, also known by her previous name, was born in 1937 in Aligarh, India. Her work, which ranges from simple drawings to prints and sculptures and explores the ideas of home, distance, and trajectories, is by an Indian-American artist of Indian descent. Jareena has studied mathematics and been drawn to architecture through her vast travels, and this is evident in her works through the use of geometry and structural purity. She includes Islamic adornment because she is an Indian woman who was born into a Muslim family, especially the regular geometry used in Islamic construction.

Jareena expanded her artistic practice after leaving Aligarh after her marriage and departure from India in 1958, traveling with her husband, an Indian diplomat, in Bangkok, Paris, and Bonn. She is one of the very few Indian women artists to be included in the MF Husain, VS Gaitonde, Tyeb Mehta, and Nasreen Mohamedi exhibitions. Jareena studied with Stanley William Hayter at Atelier 17 while she lived and worked in Paris in the 1960s, where she was a part of a group of Indian artists. She left India in 1968 and traveled alone for six years before returning.

She moved to Tokyo in 1974 and worked in Toshi Yoshido’s studio before coming to the US the following year. Jareena established a house, a group of friends, and she got active in the city’s burgeoning female art scene. She fed herself by attending universities all over the nation, made frequent trips back to India, fought to keep her apartment, took part in exhibitions in India, Pakistan, and New York, and kept in touch with her family even after relocating to the newly independent nation of Pakistan in 1959. She wouldn’t phone home, but she would call. The conflicts in Jareena’s creative and interpersonal relationships with Muslim minorities are reflected in her relationship with her native country and the newly constituted nation.

For over thirty years, the craftsman supported herself and her training through an organization of schooling and backing in the US. While living in the US, Jareena held performance shows in Delhi, Bombay, and Karachi during the 1970s and 1980s, keeping up with associations with specialists, companions, and display proprietors in these urban communities, some of which are forty years of age now. Prior to addressing India in her structure at the Venice Biennale, Jareena had impacted South Asian and Center Eastern specialists as a very rare example of craftsmen in the district who worked with superfluity and moderation all through her whole vocation.

Jareena’s paper and its associations have extended throughout her entire life and seem to define her creative expression. For her, it speaks to the notion of a home/house that has kept her engaged for years. As her images are sculptural in cast paper, they affirm the idea of stability while also embracing the notion of the past resurfacing and accepting the concept of impermanence. Working with cast paper liberated her from the unchangeable, rectilinear sheet she encountered while making prints, with which she dealt with the proportion of the sheet, the border, and all around.

During the 1970s, women’s activist gatherings in the New York workmanship scene included Jareena, who needs to be tended to exclusively by her most memorable name. Despite the fact that her work has recently been highlighted in huge shows and showed in significant public assortments, like those at the Victoria and Albert Historical center in London, the Mallet Gallery, the Exhibition hall of Present day Craftsmanship, and the Guggenheim Exhibition hall in New York, this display is the most exhaustive assessment of her amazingly stunning, grave, and wonderful attempts to date.

Family has remained the foundation of Jareena’s inspiration. The most intimate and esteemed artwork among her creations is a collection of six unpublished letters titled “Letters from Home” written to her by her sister, Rani. Years later, Rani shared these letters with her during one of her visits. The letters described the deaths of their parents, the sale of Rani’s house, the grief Jareena felt after her children moved away, and how much she missed Jareena’s presence during those difficult times.

Family has stayed the groundwork of Jareena’s motivation. The most cozy and regarded craftsmanship among her manifestations is an assortment of six unpublished letters named “Letters from Home” kept in touch with her by her sister, Rani. Years after the fact, Rani imparted these letters to her during one of her visits. The letters depicted the passings of their folks, the offer of Rani’s home, the distress Jareena felt after her youngsters moved away, and the amount she missed Jareena’s presence during those troublesome times.

Due to declining wellbeing, Jareena currently invests the majority of her energy in London with her niece, Saima, and nephew, Imran. She appreciates being there with her family, particularly investing energy with her extraordinary niece, Shania.

For more information about the artist’s life and work, please visit her official website at www.zarina.work.

References:

Retrieved on July 24, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zarina_(artist)
Excerpts from Sadiya Shirazi’s book “Zarina: Weaving Darkness and Silence” published by Gallery Espace in 2018.
Excerpts from Zarina’s book “Paper House” published by Gallery Espace in 2007.
Excerpts from https://www.zarina.work/family, retrieved on April 9, 2020.

Awards:

President’s Award for Printmaking, India, 1969
Residency Award, Women’s Studio Workshop, Rosendale, New York, 1991
Residency Award, Art-Omi, Omi, New York, 1994