By Painting outdoors in the lap of nature by the sea or in a garden was an integral aspect of Dubai based Pakistani artist Soraya Sikander’s art routine. But the pandemic forced her to change that — months of being indoors in 2020, led her to rewire her painting process, which eventually resulted in her creating a new series exploring frescoes, inherent to techniques prevalent in the Indian subcontinent. Inspired by Mughal murals, Pahari paintings and Islamic architecture across Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan, Soraya etched motifs and patterns on handmade paper, resembling frescoes from these regions. She hopes to hold an exhibition of her artwork, later this year.
An alumnus of University College London’s Slade Summer School, the artist has to her credit numerous solo and group exhibitions across the globe. In this interview with Middle East Masala, she reveals more about her new fresco series and also talks about her pioneering calligraphy landscapes.
Your new art series explores fresco paintings. Tell us more about them.
I am fascinated by Mughal fresco paintings, their Naqqashi, miniatures, their geometrical patterns, Islamic arts and traditional handmade crafts. The fresco paintings practiced during the 16th and 17th century in the subcontinent, displayed a high amount of precision and perfectionism. Artists were commissioned to produce these Darbar (court) paintings and frescoes by Mughal emperors. These painters went on to produce masterpieces, that live on even now. I believe great art is made in solitude and produced through years of training, reflecting a perfect collaboration of style, skill and concept.
With rampant digitisation, we risk future generations being completely untrained in academic art and ignorant of formalist art. The fact that such art is timeless and transcends borders, has further inspired me to take this legacy forward. I hope to execute large scale frescoes and mural painting one day at heritage sites, for all people to experience in times to come.
Arabic calligraphy inspired landscapes have been a dominant feature of your work. How and what inspired you to create them?
In 2012, while traveling across Europe one autumn, I noticed the trees shedding their leaves. This natural phenomenon became a metaphor for me and led me to see Arabic calligraphy letters and alphabets in nature, particularly the letters Alif Lam and Kaf. I then created a few stylized illustrated sketches. My earlier paintings captured the beautiful English countryside interlaced with calligraphic patterns and rhythms. I ended up developing a new style that combined British romanticism with Eastern calligraphy to birth a new genre of painting, dubbed by art critics as the ‘calligraphy landscape’. This went on to win me much critical acclaim, biennale exhibitions, museum displays and sold out art work. It perhaps remains, my best known signature style.
Take us back to the start and evolution of your art journey. What have been the most significant milestones in your career?
I started with painting organic patterns that I found in nature in 2010. The details and designs in flowers caught my eye, and I enjoyed playing with colour. As the scale of my canvases grew, the subject shifted to tonal paintings of the beach, and textured seascape paintings of waves. I worked with palette knifes during this period. The work naturally progressed on to large scale depictions of the seasons, reflecting my new style of calligraphic silhouette trees against dramatic backgrounds, rich in tonal gradations.
The calligraphy landscape was an instant hit with collectors and went on to define my art career for the larger part of the decade. Perhaps some of my most well-known milestones were at the Beijing Biennale, 2017 and 2019. My exhibition ‘Embassy Art’ at Netherland’s leading gallery Patries Van Dorst, the recent showing in Moldova at their National Art Museum and being invited to be a TEDx speaker on Art have been other notable achievements. Over the years my work has been widely featured in major publications and hugely recognized.
How do you view the art scene in the UAE? Do you feel there are enough opportunities and representation of artists from the subcontinent here?
The UAE is one of the most fascinating, diverse, experimental and innovative countries in the world. There are opportunities constantly being created here and the pandemic has brought its share of unique art projects. Just like the nation, the UAE art scene, is constantly evolving rapidly. But given how large a population from South Asia lives here, we need more South Asian art galleries, museums, art organizations, a dedicated research centre and above all, quality fine art training institutes to teach Pahari miniature paintings, Rajasthani miniatures, Fresco paintings, Naqqashi, Kashi Kari, and all other traditional and formal arts from South Asia. I hope to launch such a school in the UAE one day.
Painting versus teaching or exhibiting at an event — what do you enjoy the most?
I enjoy each. I love the very act of painting, creating and inventing, discovering and experimenting, making and unmaking – the process, materials, textures and responding to the environment – the world around me, and interpreting it through light and shade. Painting, by its very nature is unlimited. It has no beginning, and no end. It is a continuous process.
Exhibitions are a great way of sharing experiences and telling stories through pictures. I see exhibitions as a way to connect with people and to show them new perspectives and possibilities.
Teaching too is incredibly rewarding. Creating awareness, sharing information, enriching people’s lives, engaging them in conversations, educating them nudging them to form their own ideas about artworks, training them to be deeply informed about art history of the world. As an art educator, it is immensely satisfying when my students attain personal and professional success.
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