Faiza Mubarak — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

May 2

May 2 Faiza Mubarak

Biography

Faiza is a self-taught abstract artist from the United Kingdom. Her art is the product of who she is and is a result of her memories, experiences and dreams. Her work is greatly influenced by her diverse background, from her childhood growing up in Saudi Arabia to her British roots combined with Pakistani and Zanzibari influences. Faiza has exhibited her work across Europe including Milan and Paris. Upcoming exhibitions will be taking place in Genova, Cologne and London.

Artist Statement

Each piece of artwork that I create is a discovery of my truth and an expression of my inner voice. When painting, I follow the unconscious and each piece is guided by the initial textures that I create. Each layer of colour and texture added guides the creation of the next, and from this I try to capture the perfect in the imperfect. The final piece only emerges once the chaos disappears into a beautiful harmony of textures and colour.

What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?

Art has always been within me, this need to express my creative side, but unfortunately growing up it wasn’t really a career I could pursue. Growing up in a South East Asian family, being an Artist wasn’t really considered to be an acceptable career choice and so I found myself being pulled to a career in Psychology. Even within this field I used to use quite a lot of creative techniques as well as Art as a therapeutic medium. Once I became a mum, I left my career in Psychology to be a stay-at-home mum and this gave me the opportunity to start exploring my creative side. I dabbled in food photography, mehndi (henna) as well as A LOT of arts and crafts with my kiddies! But I truly found my creative path during lockdown. The pandemic turned nearly everybody’s lives upside down including mine, and 2020 was one of the hardest years of my life, in which I had to face a lot of difficult situations, and I could feel myself getting lost. That’s when I first started to properly paint as a way to escape the madness and in those moments I would loose myself in the beauty of textures and layers of colour and really be free. Ironically in one of the most difficult times I found my true path and became an Artist!

What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?

A textural abstract artist. Someone who tries to find a beautiful harmony amongst the chaos of textures and layers.

What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?

Escapism, even if its just for a few seconds or minutes so that you can focus on you. The way I feel when painting. To loose yourself and find some meaning that relates to you. The beauty of textures means each section of the painting is completely different. I want the viewer to first look at the painting as a whole and feel the emotions that arise and then find some detail within the painting that connects with them and explore what it means to them - the feelings and memories that are evoked. To use my paintings to discover their own inner truth.

Can you explain the process of creating your work?

When painting, I like to lose myself and allow my feelings, thoughts and memories to guide me. Each texture I create guides the creation of the next, each a hidden emotion or memory resurfacing. Layers of colour are used to bring the textures together and this process is repeated until there is a beautiful balance of colours and textures. Each piece that I create is a little self-discovery of who I am.

What is your favourite part of the creative process?

The initial first stage of creating texture. It is a very raw process as that is when I am truly free and just following my subconscious allowing my feelings and hidden thoughts and memories to guide me.

Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?

I would love to explore a deeper influence of my culture and heritage within my artwork, especially when creating textures, from the beautiful elegance of mehndi (henna) to the intricate detailed embroidery work on South East Asian clothing such as dabka and zardozi.

Website www.faizamubarakart.com

Instagram @faizamubarakart