A portrait of a young artist

Mariam Suhail believes her art is almost always fully understood. And that the most problematic myth about visual art is its aura of inaccessibility. This artist’s latest exhibition, ‘Breakdown of Shorter Concerns’, is definitely high-brow though.

She presents disparate threads, some fact and some fiction in deceptive simplicity. At one level, she breaks down the simple and mundane in her surroundings and in another, zooms in on its complexities. Twenty-seven poetic type-written notes, illustrated text made on newsprint paper using a permanent marker, and five installations present some of her shorter concerns.

Suhail has been experimenting with different media and her previous solo exhibition at GallerySke was a set of drawings on paper. ‘Her Work is Never Done’ at Gallery BMB, Mumbai (2010), ‘Some Blind Alleys’ at Anant Art Gallery, Delhi (2007) and ‘Sites of Substance’ at the National Art Gallery, Islamabad (2007), are other shows she has displayed her work at.

She was part of the Tanera Mor 3-island International artist residency in Scotland (2007), Khoj International Artists’ workshop in Mumbai (2005), and Aar Paar, an artist-initiated public art project between artists from India and Pakistan. She has also taught at the School of Visual Art, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, and the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi.

This Pakistani artist, who married an Indian and became a Bangalorean two years ago, is reluctant to draw attention to herself and wants her work to do all the talking. DNA drew her out on some of her shorter concerns.

What is the idea driving Breakdown of Shorter Concerns?
The idea driving it was looking at a number of disparate ideas, bringing them to a levelled plane and exploring them through a fixed or irreversible medium to begin with. That’s how this work began and led to these short books and text works (Breakdown of Shorter Concerns 1 and 2).

There was a number of ‘shorter’ concerns, the word ‘shorter’ hinting at the idea that they may not be large enough concerns to be considered important, concerns falling ‘short’ of recognition perhaps and ‘Breakdown’ being analysis and/or collapse of these concerns. This kind of focused deliberation led to new ideas and forms and all these have appeared in the show.

What was your breakthrough?
There wasn’t a single breakthrough, but many small ones in each work.

What got you started?
What got me started on this body of work was the end of the last body of work.

If someone saw your work in 100 years’ time, what would it tell them about you and your concerns?
I suppose they would find micro-narratives about this period in time, but slightly cryptic ones.

Is your work misunderstood?
No, it’s fully understood most of the time.

Does an artist need to suffer to create?
Media, the news and of course Facebook, tell us that we all suffer. The magnitude of suffering may differ and so suffering itself is relative. It may have something or nothing to do with our work. We must all put this ‘Artists must suffer’ myth to rest now so that artists don’t feel obliged to suffer.

What’s the greatest threat to art today?
Lack of interest.

What’s the biggest myth about art?
I think a problematic myth attached to ‘Visual Art’ is that it’s considered and mostly dismissed as an inaccessible form of art when compared to other forms of art like music, film, design and so on.

What advice would you give an artist just starting out?
Follow your own personal interest and don’t be afraid.

Is there anything about your career you regret?
No.

What work of art would you most like to own?
Sudarshan Shetty’s “The Party is Elsewhere”.

What cultural form leaves you cold?
I can’t think of anything. I enjoy most forms.

What’s the best advice anyone ever gave you?
When pealing an onion, first mark its surface layer with four shallow cuts (dividing it into four equal parts) and then proceed. I think it can be a metaphor for a lot of things.

What’s the worst thing anyone ever said about you?
In this imagined scenario, logically, the worst thing would’ve been said in my absence, so there is absolutely no possibility of knowing.

Who do you most admire?
‘Most admire’ is hard to answer, but right now Terry Gilliam comes to mind as someone I really admire, particularly for introducing me to the Ministry of Silly Walks. But there is a long list there.