Take leap and don’t look back! Imagine the impossible. Be mindful of how you use your time as it goes fast. Time is one of the most invaluable elements around you. Be strong and believe in your ability to make a difference. And then when you regurgitate, own it and make it speak your own brand of language. These ruptures will be varied in both technique and form and in terms of your understanding of the world around you. Be aware and open to the departures and shifts that will happen as you progress and grow. In our current complex global socio-‐geo-‐political realities it is essential that we all contribute and create an open and responsible dialogue and not shy away from questioning that rhetoric which aims to confuse and misguide. It is often in these sites of engagement that meaning is in constant flux. I became interested in cultural and political boundaries for opening up new frameworks for dialogue and visual narrative as an outcome of participating in the complexities around me, complexities of identity, histories and ownership. Over the years I have worked in a variety of mediums and formats, including small detailed paintings, murals, animation, installation, video and many collaboration with other artists. Often gratification and results are not immediate and believe me patience comes in very handy. It requires sensitivity, intuition, clarity, and an open-‐ness to risk and failure as well as a tenacious drive. Art for me translated as the ultimate ticket to life.īeing an artist requires courage. And I wanted to do all of it all at once. Of course I had many hurdles from putting my parents anxieties to rest and finding ways to pay for my tuition to figuring out my unique identity within the cultural space to learning how to master a language to then eventually challenge its limitations and expand its potential. The path I took was neither easy nor predictable but it was passionate, exciting and utterly adventurous. Fast forward 25 years, and contemporary miniature painting is now considered a valid visual global language in its own right and an important vehicle of contemporary expression. And believe me, I was challenged many times and I felt alone and I felt upset and not understood yet I persevered and kept at it, slowly, steadily, methodically at my own pace and belief. My instinct to engage with miniature painting was so strong as a young creative person of 18 years of age that I embraced it with full force and did not let go whenever I was challenged. It was exciting to examine, imagine and explore the many possibilities of miniature painting whose future as a contemporary mode of expression had not yet been laid. What others then saw an as enslavement to craft and technique, I saw as a path to opening possibilities for dialogue. It was within this environment that I had chosen to engage with Indian and Persian miniature painting during a time when it was not popular. The National College of Arts in Lahore Pakistan was my beacon, nurturing curiosity and intellectual debate and a commitment to the creative process. In 1991, just like you, I too was looking outward to the world as a young person feeling very lucky to have ventured into the Arts. It is this spirit that still guides me and remains the fundamental reason for my interest in continuing to explore and experiment. Contemporaneity is about remaining relevant by challenging the status quo not about holding on to positions of power. In re-‐imagining lies the ability to break molds and re-‐examine the norms. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind, but be cognizant of your heart.Īn artist often has the burden to re-‐imagine. It is when you explore and push your own boundaries you discover the potential within and around you. Embrace your potential and create solid and healthy bridges around you with others of your ilk and of those who you may not yet fully understand. Be open to learning, to engaging, to analyzing and to change. I encourage you to take lead and plunge into what your heart desires. I know all of you are hungry to venture out and explore the world and find your place in the communities that you will gravitate towards and engage with. Ideas are a powerful entity and creativity is essential to all of us in harnessing our thoughts, impulses, desires, and dispositions into expression. It has been an instinct to think and imagine the future. I am also equally humbled to give you some words of inspiration from my own lived experience as an artist.įor me art is not just an impulse to make aesthetically pleasing objects. I am thrilled to be here to witness this exciting and pivotal time in your lives. Please take inspiration from her words and work below.Ĭommencement Speech by Shahzia Sikander – The New School, Parsons BFA Fine Arts, 2015 We were thrilled to have internationally renowned artist Shahzia Sikander with us to celebrate our class of 2015 BFA Fine Arts Commencement.
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