Gill Wilson
Residency at Sanskriti Pratishthan
Zarina Harib: A Paper Exhibition
Posted by Gill Wilson on 3rd February 2007
I spent some time looking at other artists on the HAT website which has given me more focus and sense of connection. It’s strange to be in a place like Sanskriti, so far away from all that is familiar, because the community and it’s resident personalities become your reality. There is a certain pressure to be creative and engage in making because of the stimulus of other artists around you. However, this is a world of different artists and their diverse voices rather than our individual direct response to India. The challenge is to be aware of and manage these multiple influences
Image: Zarina Harib
I finally got to visit a paper exhibition - paper sculpture by the artist Zarina Harib. She is from Pakistan and I found her work both inspiring and strangely similar to the pieces I have just made. (see images). Zarina works in New York and is showing cast paper sculptures, including geometric shapes - squares and rectangles. The pieces are concerned with paper and architectural form, which has long been a pre-occupation in my own work. Zarina makes her cast pieces from pouring paper slurry as if it were molten metal into deep relief moulds - when the sculpture is to be a geometric one; its mould typically had smaller geometric patterns notched into it. The paper matrix could be pressed further by hand and then set to dry. After it has been removed from its mold, it is sized with mica or metal powder and further surfaced with gold leaf. There are certainly parallels with the work of Zarinas and my own pieces and as some of the pieces were older I am intrigued to know what she is doing now, I may try and contact her.
The artist from Mumbai now at the Harley Foundation also makes paper from natural materials, which she calls ‘self made surfaces‘. I feel that it could be interesting to talk to her over the web and discuss practice while she is there. She will also have my studio as a resource if she needs equipment.
I intend to address my own personal barriers - start making and arrange expeditions to get out and experience.
Click on image to open QuickTime movie
"ARTIST'S TALK"
Hanne Rysgaard talks to conference during cHAT week at Sanskriti, Delhi, India. March 2007
