The mind’s eye: Mariam Hanif’s work to be exhibited in UK

Five paintings by Hanif will be put on display at Young Artists’ workshop in October.

LAHORE: Mariam Hanif will be representing Pakistan at the Young Artists’ Exhibition and Workshop at Kirklees College, United Kingdom in October.

Five of Hanif’s paintings will be displayed at the 10-day exhibition and workshop. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Hanif, said, “The basic theme of my work revolves around the concept of apparitional experience of land, water and skyscapes from nature and how these visuals impact our memory.”

“I believe everything we see leaves a lasting imprint on our minds. These visual experiences are not only retained for a long time, but also keep on changing in our minds depending on our emotional state,” she said.

The artist said all visual memories shape our mind with the passage of time. “They create their own language, a language of marks/dots/doodling with the amalgamation of emotions and thoughts. I make landscapes in my own individual styles using tiny marks and dots,” she said.

Hanif said that in her latest work, she had used her memory to create images from these visual experiences. “I want to make my viewers feel the sublime and celestial beauty in nature and to have an experience of ecstasy,” she said.

She said she loved combining science, technology and arts to see what possibilities of visuals she could get. “I experiment and explore new mediums and techniques to evolve as an artist,” she said.

Hanif was born in Lahore in 1987. She did her bachelor of fine arts in 2010 from the National College of Arts, majoring in print-making and miniature painting.

Her work consists of drawing, painting, Mughal miniature painting, sculpture, printmaking, calligraphy and installations with or without ultraviolet light.

She has displayed her work in Canada, US, India and UK. She has her own studio, Art Classes Lahore, where she teaches drawing and painting. In 2013, she was selected for one-month art residency in New York and an exhibition by the New York Film Academy with the Rockefeller grant.

This year, she was also selected as one of the women art representatives from Pakistan for an art exhibition, Colours of Hope, in India. The seven-day event had been organised in New Delhi by the Indian Cultural Council.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2014.