Saira Wasim
{{BLP sources|date=June 2014}}
Saira Wasim is a contemporary artist from Lahore, Pakistan. She currently lives in United States. Wasim uses the miniature style of painting, pioneered by the Persians but extensively used in South Asia, to make primarily political and cultural art.{{Citation needed|date= January 2018}} Wasim's art has been shown in a number of museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, and Asian Art Museum.{{Citation needed|date= January 2018}}
Biography
Wasim went to National College of Arts (in Lahore), from where she graduated with a Bachelors in Fine Arts with focus in miniature painting in 1999. Dawn art critic Ali Adil Khan describes her as part of "magnificent seven" along with Muhammed Imran Qureshi, Tazeen Qayyum, Aisha Khalid, Talha Rathore, Nusra Latif Qureshi, and Reeta Saeed- who brought back miniatures {{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-sundaymagazine/miniatures-get-a-neo-tag/article662045.ece|title=Miniatures get a ‘neo' tag|date=29 November 2009|publisher=|via=The Hindu}}
Artistic approach
Wasim draws Persian Miniatures to make devastating political commentary.{{cite web|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/miniature-revolutions/article574780.ece|title=Miniature revolutions|first=Sravasti|last=Datta|date=17 August 2010|publisher=|via=The Hindu}}
Wasim has stated:
"My work uses the contemporary miniature form to explore social and political issues that divide the modern world. This series, Battle for Hearts and Minds, illustrates the clash between imperialism in the west and fundamentalism in the east, and questions the underlying motivations and uneasy alliances that keep this conflict going. My work offers a voice against this ignorance and prejudice. It pleas for social justice, respect, and tolerance through the use of caricature and satire."Asia Society, http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/onewayoranother/oneway3.html#Saira
The New York Times describes her work as "exquisite political cartoons that conjure William Hogarth and sometimes borrow directly from Norman Rockwell."{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/arts/design/08asia.html|title=A Mélange of Asian Roots and Shifting Identities|date=8 September 2006|work=The New York Times}}
References
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External links
- [http://www.sairawasim.com/ Official website]
- [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3708382.stm BBC article on Saira Wasim and Hasnat Mehmood]
- [http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020113/spectrum/art.htm Tribune India newspaper article on Saira Wasim]
- [http://www.anu.edu.au/hrc/research/FutureTense/saira.pdf Short biography - Australian National University]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070928051640/http://www.razarumi.com/2006/12/21/miniature-painting-the-global-traumas-narrated-by-saira-wasim/ Profile on Saira Wasim's Art]
- [https://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/arts/design/08asia.html?ex=1178856000&en=2b8d3c9d923e61ae&ei=5070 NY Times article on Saira Wasim]
- [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9503E5D61431F937A3575AC0A9639C8B63 Review of Karkhana exhibition by NY Times]
- [http://gbytes.gsood.com/2008/08/13/interview-with-saira-wasim/ Interview with Saira Wasim detailing early years, family, influences]
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Category:National College of Arts alumni
Category:Pakistani contemporary artists
Category:Pakistani emigrants to the United States