The big picture

KOCHI: Beads, bits from punching paper, coffee powder, wax, egg shells, these may not be a thing of interest to some of us but these are the materials that this Thrissur-based artist, Naseema Shukoor who now lives in Qatar uses to make beautiful and colourful images. A self-taught artist she has been doing this for more than 20 years now and her works are being exhibited at the ongoing ‘Chitrachantha’ exhibition at Oberon Mall.

A passionate artist, Naseema has created contemporary artworks utilising a variety of mediums and techniques. For her artwork she uses miniature beads, scrap paper, paper clippings, wax besides using the traditional oil paint. She says, “I started painting 20 years ago as a hobby. I wanted to do something different from the mainstream artists. So, I did oil paintings using toothpicks. When I create this art, it takes time, but I really enjoy it.”

She incorporates various themes and subjects in her works resulting in a unique spectrum of work. Earlier her work was centred around handmade flowers and then, she began exploring and experimenting with new styles and techniques. One large-scale work is the recreation of Raja Ravi Varma’s painting titled ‘The Maharashtrian Lady’ that Naseema has created using miniature glass beads. She says, “I used over 1.5 lakh beads to create this over a period of six months.”Another spectacular work is ‘The Holy Masjid’ she created using around 6 lakh bits from punching paper. Twenty-five sheets of paper were punched by her measuring 3m by 4m. She says, “After choosing a picture of Makkah on the internet. I studied it and then visually segregated it into five vertical strips.”

She pasted 25 sheets of black chart paper for the background and then pasted these individual bits of paper after punching paper on the chart paper after figuring out which portion of the image requires which colour so that at the end a cohesive image is formed. For this particular image, she used hole-punched colours in red, yellow, blue and green.

In the ongoing ‘Chitrachantha’ exhibition, Naseema has displayed three works done with miniature glass beads and embroidery work. This is Naseema’s first solo exhibition in Kerala and she says, “This is the first time I got an opportunity to display my work in Kerala. It was Asif Ali Komu who saw my work in Qatar and asked me to do an exhibition on my visit to Kerala.” In this exhibition, she has displayed her work ‘Monalisa’ for the first time and it is done with black glass beads. Th artist’s work is wide and continues to grow like her determination. The exhibition is on till January 20.