Biography

As a woman, artist, and mother, I work to create harmony by expressing the universality of humanity through paintings, sculpture, and calligraphy. At birth I was given the life-defining challenge of a left hand without fingers. After graduating in Fine Arts from Maharaja Sayajirao University in Baroda, India, I lived and worked in Iran and Kuwait before landing at Pennsylvania USA in 1987.

As a visual artist I have had 40 plus solo shows nationally and internationally and have won several prestigious awards including the East Bay Community’s Fund for Artists in 2012 and 2014 and 2020. The City of Berkeley’s Individual Artist Grant Award in 2014, 2015, and 2016. I have public art pieces on display in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and San Diego, California and I have also written and published five books on my art and poetry including my recent with ecological consciousness from Quranic verses “Our Earth: Embracing All Communities.”

Artist Statement

My works are lyrical, spiritual, figurative, and calligraphic. My paintings reveal stories of unity in diversity, hope and connection, celebration of earth and women. I like to work in series and these series are evolved from each other. My new works Series are bridging Science and Faith creating a visual discourse that bridges science, religion, Islamic diversity and diaspora, language engaged with the plight of humanity, the soul, and the soil.

Arabic Calligraphy, miniatures, and the folk art are strong influence on my work. I have tried to bring together Eastern spirituality and Western techniques of painting learned over the years. Through the contrasting elements in my work, I yearn and search for unity and balance.

My story begins with line and the lines that I create represent the spiritual energy that emanates from soul. My method is a physical and meditative process that fills each canvas with moving lines and multi-layered textures. For me creating art means getting physically involved with the piece: scratching, sanding, layering materials like paper, rope, modeling paste, paper-mache or copper plate, and embroidering with pen and ink. I apply thin layers of acrylic color in between adding textures and this working process brings out subliminal images. I also paint with rust pastels, use jute twine rope on handmade Korean paper Hanji, and apply glaze to seal everything. In my studio mysteries are revealed each day and I feel awed and inspired to delve further into the unknown fearlessly and look out for new visions emerging on my canvas. I want to introduce my two current ecologically conscious series of contemporary paintings, “Mycelial Flow” and “Tiny Creatures: Our Invisible Sustainers.”

I have immersed myself in research to gain a deeper knowledge of science and faith to find remedies to save our planet and its ecosystems. My research led me to discover Mycelia- the vegetative part of a fungus, consisting of a network of fine white filaments. Through my explorations in these life-giving networks under our feet, creating visual images of these connections and collaborations satisfies my soul. I hope to bring humanity together with lessons learned from nature. The Tiny Creatures series visualizes microbes as integral to our ecosystem. These tiny creatures, microbes, are sustainers in the ecosystem. I feel Intrigued and inspired by their story and have created a body of work to draw attention to them. I use thin acrylic glazes and pen & ink drawing to create a visual language for the intricate relationship between creatures swarming on my canvases in chaos-like compositions. These works are imaginative and spontaneous and bring energy and hope. I feel blessed because I was born with two wings- the urge to create and a love for Creation. Both these gifts have been sources of eternal joy and a constant flow of positive inspiration in my life. I work daily and hope to spread the joy and blessings I have received through my work.