Talking about hypocrisies Sheree Naqvi, BA Fine Art Painting and Drawing, Swansea College of Art, University of Wales Trinity Saint David I began at Swansea with the naive desire to paint landscapes and seascapes for the duration of the course; little did I know that I was about to undertake a vast creative journey. Art has become a way of talking about the hypocrisies I have witnessed within contemporary eastern society. The possibilities of painting, photography, sound, performance and installation have changed my artmaking processes. As my conceptual practice has developed I have started to challenge my hybrid identity and the dichotomies associated with this identity: east and west, male and female, active and passive, public and private, and the prescribed gender roles within a male-dominated Asian culture. My work is both ambiguous and challenging and involves piles of black female hair. The raw material was brought into the UK in a suitcase following a visit to my home in Pakistan in 2016. It is strange how the hair itself has been on a journey, escaping Asia to start a new life in the west, from a restricted space to a liberated one. In my work this journey becomes important as I explore concepts of loss and courage through dusty clumps of hair. Female roles within the private space of ‘home’ are manipulated through representations of domesticity. I see my degree show as another beginning to a much bigger journey. It is exciting to think that the work will be seen by a diverse group of people which could create unexpected conversations and connections. www.shereenaqvi.weebly.com Degree show: 19 May – 2 June. www.uwtsd.ac.uk/art-design/summershows
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Sheree Naqvi, screenshot
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