biography

i was born in lahore, pakistan. i grew up in brussels and for many years french was my “langue maternelle”. i returned to pakistan and graduated from the institute of business administration in karachi, with an mba. in pakistan, i worked for multinationals like ici (imperial chemical industries) and societe generale. i got married in 1993 and moved to connecticut. i went back to school and got a second master’s degree from the university of hartford, this time in economics. i worked for heublein and abb combustion engineering in connecticut, followed by the sentry group in rochester ny, as a senior financial analyst. my work involved the development of mathematical models for economic analysis and business simulations.

art

art and literature have always been a passion. i began writing poetry in second grade, first in french and now in english. i have always painted but discovering collage was a breakthrough. i could finally produce work inspired by robert rauschenberg, whom i admire greatly. i took a course in black and white photography, in long island, and became familiar with dark room techniques and principles of good composition. in 2003, after working for the sentry group for about a year, i took the leap - i resigned from my job and enrolled in an art class at nazareth college, in rochester. i have never been happier in my life.

artwork

the experience at nazareth further enabled me to express myself through collage. i now use computer graphics to create pieces that incorporate oil painting, photography and, most importantly, fabric. it had been one of my goals to use asian fabrics, especially those produced in pakistan and india, in my work. south asia has a long and well-established tradition of producing textiles. some of this fabric has never been seen in the west. the visual and textural richness of pakistani fabric lends itself naturally to artwork. the story of weaving is the story of our history and culture. with computer graphics, i can finally photograph fabrics and fuse their beauty and texture with the rest of my work. in spring 2005 i took a class in lithography, which is another technique i want to incorporate in my work. a series of collages i submitted to the nazareth college student exhibition in 2005 won first prize.

film

in 2006, i took classes in documentary-making and production & editing at the visual studies workshop in rochester, ny. i am now in the process of making a documentary about moderate muslims in america. it’s a subject that needs to be tackled in order to counter the relentless barrage of negative stereotyping produced by mainstream media. i have shot most of the footage including numerous interviews with muslims and non-muslims alike. i am editing right now (as of june 2007) and hope to produce something that is uniquely artistic and thought-provoking at the same time.

artist’s statement

my art work draws from highly diverse materials, textures and colors to achieve a multi-layered fusion of opposites – east and west, abstract and physical, male and female, rational and emotive, complex and manifest. the random juxtaposition of these elements and the use of painting, photography, text and fabric help me create dynamic collages. my work is intensely personal, but open to infinite interpretations and therefore a door to new ideas and cultures.