Zarina Hashmi, simply known as Zarina, was an Indian-American artist whose work resonated with the themes of home, displacement, and memory. Born in 1937 in Aligarh, India, and having lived a significant part of her life in New York City, Zarina’s art is a profound exploration of her experiences and reflections on geography, belonging, and identity. Her unique approach to printmaking, drawing, and sculpture has established her as a pivotal figure in contemporary art, navigating through her personal narratives and the shared stories of displacement.
Early Life and Influences
Zarina was born into a Muslim family in pre-partition India, a fact that deeply influenced her thematic concerns and artistic sensibilities. Her early life in Aligarh, a city known for its university and intellectual milieu, exposed her to a blend of cultural and educational stimuli. However, it was the partition of India in 1947, which she lived through as a child, that left an indelible mark on her psyche, later becoming a central theme in her work.
Despite the lack of formal art education in her early years, Zarina was driven by a profound interest in the arts. Her journey into the world of art began in earnest when she moved to Bangkok in the 1960s with her husband. It was here that she began experimenting with printmaking, a medium that would become her signature. Her work during this period was influenced by her travels across Europe and Asia, where she absorbed various artistic techniques and philosophies, from the minimalist expressions in Japanese art to the rich historical tapestries of European cultures.
The Language of Printmaking
Zarina’s choice of printmaking as her primary medium was unconventional and deeply symbolic. Printmaking, with its process-oriented nature and capacity for repetition and variation, allowed her to explore themes of memory, loss, and the passage of time. She often used simple, stark forms, and a limited palette of black, white, and gold, which lent her works a sense of universality and timelessness.
Her prints often incorporated texts in Urdu, her mother tongue, adding layers of personal and cultural narratives. The use of traditional architectural motifs and maps in her work also reflected her ongoing engagement with the ideas of home, migration, and belonging. Zarina’s art was not just a visual experience but a tactile one as well, with paper being a central element. She treated paper not just as a medium but as a space of memory, imbibing it with the textures of her experiences.
Explorations of Home and Displacement
One of Zarina’s most poignant thematic explorations was the concept of home. For Zarina, home was not a static physical space but a complex, evolving idea shaped by memories, losses, and the continuous search for belonging. Her work often depicted houses and architectural elements, sometimes as solid structures, at other times as fragile, ephemeral forms, mirroring the transient nature of home for many who experience displacement.
Her 2011 exhibition “Homes I Made/A Life in Nine Lines” perfectly encapsulates this exploration. Through a series of prints, Zarina mapped out the various homes she had lived in throughout her life, reflecting on the impermanence and fluidity of home. The exhibition was a powerful commentary on the global experience of migration and displacement, subjects that have become increasingly relevant in contemporary discussions.
Legacy and Recognition
Zarina’s contributions to the art world have been recognized globally. Her works are part of collections in prestigious museums, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Tate Modern in London. In 2017, she was awarded the prestigious Asian Cultural Council’s Lifetime Achievement Award, acknowledging her impact on the arts.
Beyond the accolades, Zarina’s legacy lies in her ability to communicate complex, often painful experiences with simplicity and beauty. Her art invites viewers to contemplate the notions of home, identity, and memory, challenging them to consider their own relationships with these universal themes.
Conclusion
Zarina Hashmi’s artistic journey was a testament to the power of art to transcend cultural and geographical boundaries. Through her exploration of home, displacement, and memory, she created a body of work that resonates with a wide audience, touching on universal experiences of loss and belonging. Zarina’s legacy as an artist lies not only in the beauty and depth of her work but also in her ability to weave together personal narratives with broader socio-political themes, making her a pivotal figure in contemporary art. Her work continues to inspire and challenge, serving as a poignant reminder of the complex interplay between personal history and the larger forces of history and migration.
