drawing, mixed media
Naz Shahrokh
nazshahrokh [a] gmail.com
Zayed University
Viittaaminen / How to cite: Shahrokh, Naz. 2017. ”J’arrive”. WiderScreen 20 (1-2). http://widerscreen.fi/numerot/2017-1-2/jarrive/
The process of drawing, stemming from a line, a mark on a surface, in any media, is a deeply personal process, and the most ancient of art forms. The act of drawing and the end result may depict the world as we know, through observational studies of moments, light, form, or it can be a subjective process and experience, from deep within, where our emotions and thoughts run free and are brought to the surface through a tactile process.
These photographic images and mixed media works represent these subtle realities. They are observational in nature, sharing with its audience the light of the landscape, the fields and vast deserts. This body of work represents the subtle realities, a “moment” from within, where words alone may not describe, but a line does, a form depicts, and ink draws. The fusion of words and line are intertwined at the core, the word “J ‘arrive” has double meaning, which translates from French “I am capable” as well as “I am arriving”. This is repeated again as a reminder of a goal to be achieved. The landscape is symbolic and similar to one’s journey in life, of being on a road or path, which leads to new places of wishful discoveries.
This body of work is a reflection on the act of drawing, both in the process, as well as in the outcome found, where words are utilized as line, and lost, and found again.
Artist Biography
Naz Shahrokh has worked as an artist and educator internationally in the United States, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. She received a BFA and an MFA in Painting, and an MS in Art History from Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY, where she later taught Fine Arts and Art History from 1998 to 2008. She joined the faculty at the Performing and Visual Arts Department at the American University in Cairo, Egypt in 2004-2006, and has been teaching at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE since 2008.
Naz has exhibited her work internationally and awards for her work include the Change Inc. (the Rauschenberg Foundation) Grant, Captiva, FL, and the Artist-In-The-Marketplace Fellowship, the Bronx Museum, Bronx, NY. Her work has been reviewed in the New York Times, TimeOut Abu Dhabi, the Connecticut Post, the Advocate and Greenwich Time, Contemporary Practices, and ART PAPERS, and is included in private and public collections internationally.
Throughout her creative process and research, Naz investigates common challenges found within the environment with a focus of bringing forth in tactile matter an experience that is both pleasing to the eye as well as revealing. Naz is currently working on several projects connected to land art, where she is investigating the landscape of the United Arab Emirates, as well as a body of work linked to cartography.
