of PAssION Perceptions

two art forms sit besides and compliment each other, and while they can exist by themselves, their relationship essentially completes the other. Nafisa confesses that PAssION is largely autobiographical. They reflect relationships of all kinds: manwoman, parent-child and with non-human entities, such as a passion for painting or music. The sentiment that the artworks convey is more of reflection than regret, though the titles suggest otherwise. As Nafisa says, “I never regret anything in life. All life experiences are a part of learning by reflection.”

Australian flowers are often featured in Nafisa’s work. “In this exhibition too, they are a metaphor for passion,” she says.

“As we discover and pursue our passions, the more it becomes a larger part of our life, to the extent that you feel you cannot breathe without it.” In the paintings – a series of Acts in the be one of the 30 artists selected from over 8000 artists to exhibit at the Chianciano Museum of Art at Tuscany. From there she heads off to Zimbabwe on an African safari with Dr Tammie Matson, to raise money to build a school there. Late last year Nafisa was in Assam with the Wildlife Trust of India and Dr Matson, following the trail of orphaned elephants released into the wild. Her elephant series of drawings done after an earlier visit to Assam to research and document human-elephant conflict, are realistic and detailed. Prints of these are sold by Animal Works, an organisation that is a coalition of artists, filmmakers, authors and conservationists who try to draw attention to the plight of threatened animal species through written word, visual medium and artwork. She rues the facts that we wake up to major disasters such as tsunamis or earthquakes where many lives are lost, but do little to