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Spring Board
Tatheer Fatima Daryani
(Tatheer Fatima Daryani, who hails from Pakistan, is a final year student of M.A.(Sculpture) at the M.S.University, Baroda. Born in Karachi, Pakistan in 1980, Daryani did a Master’s programme in Literature from Karachi University and Bachelor’s in Sculpture from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi. She had participated in ‘Emerging Talent,’ a group show held at VM Art Gallery, Karachi, in 2007, in ‘Parivartan,’ a site-specific workshop held in Assam in 2008 and ‘MoonWalk,’ group exhibition held at Gallery Maskara, Mumbai in 2009.)
Personal Background
I was born in a strong Muslim family where I learnt to balance religion and the world together and was encouraged to pursue my dreams in art and further studies. I was brought up in a fast paced city like Karachi which I found similar to Mumbai.. I have a strong Iranian influence from maternal side and my forefathers are from Gujarat. I grew up listening to stories from ‘across the border’ and of the partition.
Education
It was while studying at Defence Housing Authority (DHA) College where taking up Fine Arts as a subject of study hit the nail home for me. Then I completed Bachelor’s degree in Sculpture from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture (Karachi) in 2006. I had also enrolled for Masters In Literature which is in progress. Then I headed to India for Masters in Sculpture from Maharaja Sayajirao University (MSU), Baroda.
Conceptual basis
My work is autobiographical which sprouts from the events of my personal
life which in turn becomes tangible, abstract memories. I want the viewer to perceive and have their own connotation rather than to impose my own thoughts upon them. My works start with my (or an individual’s) feelings leading to / reaching out to other’s emotions. There’s a sublime level to it. I like the idea of making it look beautiful, at the same time when a viewer finds out that it’s blood, they have a different experience, ranging from pain to a restless feeling where they also get irked by it. Pleasure and pain are embodied in one piece, or rather, a travel from pain to pleasure is there in some of my works.
My present works revolve around the identity of women and the society’s expectations of her. Creating such works becomes a cathartic act. It turns out to be an interconnected, stimulating visual experience. I enjoy the contrast of materials brought together and the emotions they evoke in the viewer and state a firm narrative.
My academic nourishment has been under very conventional and unconventional teachers alike. My work has evolved since I started working in India, as I broke away from the language which I used earlier.
Medium/media
Though I have worked in all conventional materials like wood, fiberglass, metal and stone, I like to use unconventional materials; mercury, glass, blood, heat, hair, latex and gel, all are a major part of my works. The list keeps increasing and materials keep varying according to what I want to convey through a particular piece but a few materials remain the nucleus of the works which keeps recurring, like mercury, for me, which has paradoxical meaning... it is magnetically fascinating and yet toxic. I like using materials which are heavily loaded with metaphors.
There is an ephemeral quality to some works which I enjoy as it ages and sometimes perish and deteriorate with time and gives a visual contrast and aesthetic experience. The choice of medium is spontaneous and at the spur of moment, according to the event and feeling I have.
Other interests
I am keen on reading all kind of literature ranging from random quotes and poems to autobiographies. All kinds of cinema interest me, though I don’t think it plays a significant role in my works, but maybe subconsciously, it does seep into my work.
