2024

art

Hajra Nazir Khan

Restrictions and Barriers of Society


My artistic journey is deeply intertwined with my personal experiences of stress, depression, and anxiety. When I feel overwhelmed by these emotions, I turn to the cathartic act of scribbling. The random movements of my hand across the canvas serve as a release valve for the pent-up tension within me, offering a sense of relief and solace. My artistic journey is greatly influenced by my personal experiences, especially a difficult time in my tenth grade when I became engaged to my cousin, which caused me a great deal of sadness and anxiety. I found comfort in an unexpected avenue during this emotional upheaval: writing. I found myself drawing almost intuitively on several surfaces, including books, side tables, furniture, and nails, without any specific goal or purpose. Unexpectedly, this seemingly insignificant deed helped me feel less depressed and anxious. This coping strategy stuck with me and developed into an important part of my artistic expression. As I started my adventure in the art world, I saw how this singular event could serve as the basis for my thesis. I started experimenting and learning new methods and scales, which helped me hone my skills and create my own unique style. What began as an unplanned reaction to personal hardships has developed into a deep and significant artistic endeavor that has influenced both my creative process and how I view self-expression. My art is all about scribbling freely and then turning those scribbles into something meaningful. I also like to learn from other artists who use similar techniques. I look at their art to see how they turn scribbles into something beautiful and meaningful. It's like studying their work helps me get new ideas for my own art.

In my thesis, I explored various art techniques, starting with playing with light and dark, then finding solace in scribbling, which evolved into a way to express my emotions. I incorporated scribbles into figure drawings and experimented with large installations on newspapers, using colorful markers. Exploring zinc plate dry-point added detail to my work, and I eventually focused on mono dry-point prints on large canvases, each line telling a story of overcoming challenges and expressing myself through art.