NIDian to exhibit intolerance in India at art show

In an attempt to bring light to the stigmas that one has to bear due to polarising cultural and religious stereotypes and the effects of rising communal conditioning, a student of India's premier design school is working on a solo textile art show that portrays intolerant India.

Twenty-one year old Sarah Naqvi, a textile design student of NID is gearing to take a lead in the Indian textile industry as she brings a powerful show that will portray a timeline, beginning from her birth, to the present, chronicling the events that have shaped her identity as a Muslim girl in India. Aligarh born-Naqvi says, "In the present age of mounting Islamophobia, it can be a real struggle for the young to identify with their religious past, because of the negative connotations their present may carry. My experiences of growing up as a Muslim girl in this country will be displayed through textile art installations and artworks to create a journey that takes you through the ups and downs of both this country's and my own past and future."

The solo show is in with Design Fabric and is scheduled to open in August this year. She says, "It is a very personal project as it covers everything from the indoctrination of thought and stigmas that surround my religion and how it affects it has on society as a whole. For the same, I am studying partition and the introduction of divide and rule by the British government, but recent events of a magnitude that directly impacted us, issues like Love Jihaad, mob lynchings are of primary focus. I am further trying to map events that impacted minorities here and painted a colour which is not welcoming us. The show will have 6-8 installations, using textile art that would also throw light on how to identify oneself as a Muslim comfortably in this country. Before the show here, my project will be presented in Berlin in May.

Even the wrath on social media that she faced over her powerful array of works with unique embroidery designs that focussed on women's issues such as menstruation, stretch marks, body shaming and masturbation in 2016 did not stop her from pursuing what she felt from within.

Through her current project 'Bashaoor' which translates 'guided by conscience', she said, "I was born on September 16, 1996, four years post the Ayodhya dispute and its consequences. There have been many events since then that defined the way I perceive and identify with, my own roots. I want the viewer to envision what it feels like to grow up in an increasingly intolerant country, to put them in my shoes and see things the way I do. To feel love, apathy, and stigma that indoctrination brings. It is difficult for one to comprehend the impact that the prolonged ghettoisation of minds has, how it invokes the feeling of isolation and the pain one experiences in neglecting and losing their identity."

"Over the last two decades, many events have taken place that has shaped the way I perceive this country and my identity as a citizen here. From the 1993 riots to recent mob lynchings over the beef ban, my family has seen many India's-the one that held our hands and made us feel safe, the home that sheltered us through communal divide and the one that is being painted a colour that does not welcome us", she added.

Most of the artwork that she did in 2016 also came from her personal experiences, including a push-up bra which is uncomfortable but still, girls are made to wear to look good. She feels that there is a strong need to reach out to those who are not exposed to such a dialogue. Naqvi's art pieces included red embroidery on a panty that resembles blood stains.

A PAINTING STAR

Twenty-one year old Sarah Naqvi, a textile design student of NID is gearing to take a lead in the Indian textile industry as she brings a powerful show that will portray a timeline, beginning from her birth,, chronicling the events that have shaped her identity as a Muslim girl in India.