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♪ (intro music) ♪

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(water drips)

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SHAHZIA SIKANDER: There's something about

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process, the miniature process of painting

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in this scale, primarily,

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which keeps it in control.

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I'm basically staining the paper

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and it has to be a very even stain.

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It's slow, and you have to

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keep the edge of the tea really, sort of,

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always in flow, so that you just drip the

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whole edge down steadily.

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It's very meditative

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and there's a sense of familiarity,

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because a lot of years have gone in here.

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(rubbing paper)

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One thing I've learned is respect for

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tradition and respect for patience

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(laughs) because you just cannot achieve

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anything... 
You can't achieve a painting if

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you don't... You need time.

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Time is the key.

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I can't do a show and prepare a body of

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work in a year. I need three to four years

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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Miniature painting comes out of book

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illustration, manuscript painting...

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It's an old art form.

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All the strange, stacked-up perspective,

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interior spaces and suggestions of

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windows and doors, which suggest the

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outside world or the spiritual world, or

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some notion of perfection.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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That kind of jewel-like translucency that

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comes through is only because you have a

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discipline behind it.

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(paper rubbing)

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It takes many, many layers - at least ten

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to twenty layers of different colour - to

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build it up. You have to be very careful,

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because if your brush is loaded with too

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much water, you'll lift off the earlier

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layers of pigment also, because they're

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not sealed. So, it's practice.

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Sometimes, when I'm not in practice,

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all ten years of experience doesn't mean 
a thing! (laughs)

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When we were studying in school in

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Pakistan, my teacher used to have us sit

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on the floor on white sheets and you had

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to leave your shoes outside.

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Everything was very precise and very clean

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and very minimal.

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You worked on your work and did eye 
exercises. You kept your work at least

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a foot away from your eyes. It was very

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methodical. It was very ritualistic, also.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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I feel like why I loved miniature painting

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early on... For me, it was painting.

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I was looking and understanding the formal

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sensibility of painting - except I was not

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painting on canvas, I was painting on 
paper with a particular set of materials.

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But it was all about surface, palette, 
form, composition, stylization...

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And self-expression came later.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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A lot of my work is deeply personal and

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drawn on memory.

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If you look at this particular border,

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it's called 'Writing the Written'.

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Here, the text becomes more like horses.

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There's a suggestion of movement.

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That aspect is my experience of reading

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the Quran, where I would read it with no

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particular understanding because I was a 
child. I could read Arabic but I couldn't

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understand it. The memory of it is this 
amazing visual memory where the beauty of

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the written word supersedes everything 
else. The meaning is there, but it's not

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just the meaning - it's the ability of the

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written text to take you 
to that other level.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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My whole purpose of taking on miniature 
painting was to break the tradition,

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to experiment with it, 
to find new ways of making meaning,

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to question the relevance of it.

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(paper rustles)

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The starting point in all my work,

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whether it's small or it's large,

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actually begins as simple drawings, which

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are done on transparent tissue paper.

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(paper rustles)

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A lot of the images that exist in my work

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were happening because I was interested in

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subverting Hindu with Muslim 
and Muslim with Hindu.

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Having grown up as a Muslim in Pakistan,

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I didn't have that much information about 
Hindu mythology. When I came here,

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I realized that these were the things 
which still interested me.

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(paper rustles)

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I was looking at the idea of the

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Hindu goddess. It didn't matter how

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many hands it had, just the notion that 
it was the female body with several hands

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was important. But the goddess had a very 
specific face. Here, I was stripping off

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the face and putting a headdress, like the

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veil, on top of it. Yet the veil is on 
top of a Hindu goddess.

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Not to underestimate what's 
behind the veil.

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The miniatures bring the word 'veil' into

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the equation. It kind of connects you to 
a Muslim identity, or a woman's identity.

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These are very loaded issues to take on,

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because anything and everything

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associated with Islam is either terrorism 
or oppression for women.

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Culturally, it's not my experience.

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My grandparents, my parents... Everybody 
was very, very progressive,

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very supportive people.

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My grandfather was very encouraging 
towards careers for women - for everybody.

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All the girls in the family did something 
with their lives.

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SIKANDER'S MOTHER: But then I was more 
keen... "If she's going to the National

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College of Art, then she might as well do 
architecture, which has scope." You know,

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when she said Fine Arts, one was a bit...

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You know, at the most, you just hang 
a few paintings in the house...

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Whether you have a future or not...
(BOTH LAUGH)

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- So I was skeptical about that...
- (SHAHZIA) Sorry!

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(machinery whirs)

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(rustling)

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(SHAHZIA) This type of work for me was

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just the opposite of doing 
miniature painting.

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(machinery whirs)

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(paper rustles)

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This particular installation is much, 
much more spontaneous

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and it's always a challenge, because

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the decisions made are fast.

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It involves my entire body. I'm

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working within the space and I'm up and

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down the ladders and I'm painting,

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and everything kind of happens from 
start till end within four to five days.

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So there's a certain energy which comes out.

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(paper rustles)

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There is a certain sense of a low relief,

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where several drawings have been hung 
on top of each other.

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(paper slides)

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There's no intention to hide anything.

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Everything is very visible.

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The paper is transparent.

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It flows, it moves...

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The idea comes out of this whole

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relationship to veiling and 
revealing.

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(distant footsteps, paper rustles)

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I'm always taking photographs, doing

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sketches or taking notes.

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Then, I carry them wherever I go.

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I brought so much stuff from Pakistan

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and then so much stuff from Texas,

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and every time I sit to do some work,

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all of it is opened up.

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(machinery whirs)
(switch clicks)

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For me, it's always like these 
divine circles.

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(laughs) 
You know, you go and you experience

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something, and you come back right where

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you started.

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When I'm working large and I paint

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and do murals, the next thing is: always

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I come back to miniature painting.

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I can hate miniature for a while,

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because it's frustrating, 
for all the different reasons

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of doing something so labor-intensive

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which takes years to make.

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It's always like, 'Why do I do this?'

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And I'll let go, and I'll do 
something else,

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but I always come back to it.

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Maybe because the sheer act of doing it

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gives me a certain sort of peace.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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♪ (outro music) ♪

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or the companion book to the program,

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call PBS Home Video at 
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To learn more about art:21 - Art in the 
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Teacher's Guide, please visit PBS online 
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♪ (outro music) ♪