A well-known artist from Aligarh, India, Zarina Hashmi has traveled the world and created a singular artistic journey that masterfully weaves together her life experiences.
Why Zarina Hashmi in news?
The current Google Doodle honors the birthday of prominent Indian American artist Zarina Hashmi, who would have turned 86 today.
Zarina Hashmi Biography
Famous artist Zarina Hashmi, who was born in Aligarh, India, in 1937, has traveled the world and created a singular artistic journey that masterfully weaves together her personal experiences and life events. Zarina studied mathematics and received training in woodblock printing and intaglio in Bangkok, Tokyo, and Paris. Her early interests in mathematics and architecture can clearly be seen in Zarina’s work. While embracing texture and substance, her work oozes minimalism and explores themes of home, displacement, borders, travel, and remembrance.
Zarina Hashmi’s Early Life and Influences
Zarina had a happy upbringing supported by her devoted family. Her life and work were greatly influenced by her strong relationship with her sister Rani, who passed away in 2013. Her early interests in mathematics and building established the foundation for the mathematical purity that today characterizes her artistic expression.
Zarina Hashmi’s Artistic Journey
At prestigious worldwide venues throughout her illustrious career, Zarina has displayed her artwork. She successfully represented India in the 2011 Venice Biennale, enthralling spectators with her moving works. A year later, the Los Angeles Hammer Museum hosted the opening of the retrospective exhibition “Zarina: Paper Like Skin,” which was widely praised. In 2013, this compelling exhibition traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Guggenheim Museum in New York, further confirming her position in the art world.
Zarina Hashmi’s Themes and Motifs
Zarina’s work explores topics that echo the profound influence of her nomadic existence and personal experiences, going beyond mere aesthetics. Her works are given life by the recurring themes of home, displacement, borders, voyage, and memory, which entice viewers to reflect on the breadth of human connections and emotions.
Zarina Hashmi’s Embracing Minimalism with a Touch of Texture
Zarina’s work frequently embraces minimalism, but the starkness and tactile nature of it create an intriguing contrast. Her distinctive use of materials and texture gives her work a palpable, emotional quality that enables viewers to fully immerse themselves in the narratives her art develops.
Zarina Hashmi’s Awards
- India’s 1969 President’s Award for Printmaking
- 1991 Women’s Studio Workshop residency award, Rosendale, New York
- Art-Omi, Omi, New York, 1994 Residency Award
Zarina Hashmi’s Books
- Paper Houses by Zarina, 2007.
- Recent Works by Zarina Hashmi (2011)
- (2011) Zarina Hashmi, Noor
- Partition, Historiography, and Zarina Hashmi’s Art: Lines of Inquiry (2012)
- Paper Like Skin, Zarina (2012)
- The 2017 film Zarina: Weaving Darkness and Silence
- (2018) Zarina’s Directions to My House
