WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.000
♪ (intro music) ♪

00:00:09.228 --> 00:00:10.578
(water drips)

00:00:27.636 --> 00:00:29.793
SHAHZIA SIKANDER: There's something about

00:00:29.793 --> 00:00:32.890
process, the miniature process of painting

00:00:32.890 --> 00:00:35.842
in this scale, primarily,

00:00:35.842 --> 00:00:39.842
which keeps it in control.

00:00:42.737 --> 00:00:45.467
I'm basically staining the paper

00:00:45.467 --> 00:00:49.467
and it has to be a very even stain.

00:00:51.331 --> 00:00:52.931
It's slow, and you have to

00:00:52.931 --> 00:00:56.023
keep the edge of the tea really, sort of,

00:00:56.023 --> 00:00:59.333
always in flow, so that you just drip the

00:00:59.333 --> 00:01:02.443
whole edge down steadily.

00:01:04.837 --> 00:01:06.567
It's very meditative

00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:10.109
and there's a sense of familiarity,

00:01:10.109 --> 00:01:13.239
because a lot of years have gone in here.

00:01:14.029 --> 00:01:15.529
(rubbing paper)

00:01:22.290 --> 00:01:24.100
One thing I've learned is respect for

00:01:24.100 --> 00:01:26.663
tradition and respect for patience

00:01:26.663 --> 00:01:29.773
(laughs) because you just cannot achieve

00:01:29.773 --> 00:01:32.643
anything... 
You can't achieve a painting if

00:01:32.643 --> 00:01:34.314
you don't... You need time.

00:01:34.314 --> 00:01:35.838
Time is the key.

00:01:36.108 --> 00:01:39.878
I can't do a show and prepare a body of

00:01:39.878 --> 00:01:42.908
work in a year. I need three to four years

00:01:43.475 --> 00:01:45.525
♪ (contemplative music) ♪

00:02:04.148 --> 00:02:06.928
Miniature painting comes out of book

00:02:06.928 --> 00:02:10.015
illustration, manuscript painting...

00:02:10.015 --> 00:02:12.527
It's an old art form.

00:02:13.571 --> 00:02:16.591
All the strange, stacked-up perspective,

00:02:17.250 --> 00:02:20.140
interior spaces and suggestions of

00:02:20.140 --> 00:02:21.973
windows and doors, which suggest the

00:02:21.973 --> 00:02:24.563
outside world or the spiritual world, or

00:02:24.797 --> 00:02:27.027
some notion of perfection.

00:02:27.651 --> 00:02:29.751
♪ (contemplative music) ♪

00:02:31.900 --> 00:02:35.120
That kind of jewel-like translucency that

00:02:35.120 --> 00:02:37.860
comes through is only because you have a

00:02:37.860 --> 00:02:40.110
discipline behind it.

00:02:40.491 --> 00:02:41.611
(paper rubbing)

00:02:42.257 --> 00:02:45.557
It takes many, many layers - at least ten

00:02:45.557 --> 00:02:48.727
to twenty layers of different colour - to

00:02:48.727 --> 00:02:52.027
build it up. You have to be very careful,

00:02:52.027 --> 00:02:54.065
because if your brush is loaded with too

00:02:54.065 --> 00:02:56.395
much water, you'll lift off the earlier

00:02:56.395 --> 00:02:59.095
layers of pigment also, because they're

00:02:59.095 --> 00:03:01.865
not sealed. So, it's practice.

00:03:03.874 --> 00:03:07.299
Sometimes, when I'm not in practice,

00:03:07.299 --> 00:03:11.099
all ten years of experience doesn't mean 
a thing! (laughs)

00:03:19.219 --> 00:03:21.038
When we were studying in school in

00:03:21.038 --> 00:03:24.808
Pakistan, my teacher used to have us sit

00:03:24.808 --> 00:03:29.048
on the floor on white sheets and you had

00:03:29.048 --> 00:03:30.698
to leave your shoes outside.

00:03:30.698 --> 00:03:33.673
Everything was very precise and very clean

00:03:33.673 --> 00:03:35.513
and very minimal.

00:03:36.696 --> 00:03:42.746
You worked on your work and did eye 
exercises. You kept your work at least

00:03:42.746 --> 00:03:46.676
a foot away from your eyes. It was very

00:03:46.676 --> 00:03:50.676
methodical. It was very ritualistic, also.

00:03:53.352 --> 00:03:56.042
♪ (contemplative music) ♪

00:04:13.282 --> 00:04:15.952
I feel like why I loved miniature painting

00:04:15.952 --> 00:04:18.482
early on... For me, it was painting.

00:04:18.925 --> 00:04:21.125
I was looking and understanding the formal

00:04:21.125 --> 00:04:23.606
sensibility of painting - except I was not

00:04:23.606 --> 00:04:28.049
painting on canvas, I was painting on 
paper with a particular set of materials.

00:04:28.853 --> 00:04:35.640
But it was all about surface, palette, 
form, composition, stylization...

00:04:36.613 --> 00:04:40.613
And self-expression came later.

00:04:43.077 --> 00:04:45.637
♪ (contemplative music) ♪

00:05:03.420 --> 00:05:06.666
A lot of my work is deeply personal and

00:05:06.666 --> 00:05:09.026
drawn on memory.

00:05:09.650 --> 00:05:12.820
If you look at this particular border,

00:05:12.820 --> 00:05:15.870
it's called 'Writing the Written'.

00:05:16.300 --> 00:05:19.310
Here, the text becomes more like horses.

00:05:19.310 --> 00:05:21.524
There's a suggestion of movement.

00:05:21.524 --> 00:05:25.524
That aspect is my experience of reading

00:05:25.524 --> 00:05:29.434
the Quran, where I would read it with no

00:05:29.434 --> 00:05:33.994
particular understanding because I was a 
child. I could read Arabic but I couldn't

00:05:33.994 --> 00:05:42.902
understand it. The memory of it is this 
amazing visual memory where the beauty of

00:05:42.902 --> 00:05:50.249
the written word supersedes everything 
else. The meaning is there, but it's not

00:05:50.249 --> 00:05:52.258
just the meaning - it's the ability of the

00:05:52.258 --> 00:05:54.492
written text to take you 
to that other level.

00:05:54.612 --> 00:05:57.562
♪ (contemplative music) ♪

00:06:04.095 --> 00:06:10.061
My whole purpose of taking on miniature 
painting was to break the tradition,

00:06:10.061 --> 00:06:14.061
to experiment with it, 
to find new ways of making meaning,

00:06:14.919 --> 00:06:17.408
to question the relevance of it.

00:06:18.074 --> 00:06:19.464
(paper rustles)

00:06:23.340 --> 00:06:25.170
The starting point in all my work,

00:06:25.170 --> 00:06:27.220
whether it's small or it's large,

00:06:27.220 --> 00:06:29.450
actually begins as simple drawings, which

00:06:29.450 --> 00:06:32.510
are done on transparent tissue paper.

00:06:33.233 --> 00:06:34.503
(paper rustles)

00:06:37.078 --> 00:06:41.078
A lot of the images that exist in my work

00:06:41.078 --> 00:06:45.078
were happening because I was interested in

00:06:46.701 --> 00:06:50.331
subverting Hindu with Muslim 
and Muslim with Hindu.

00:06:52.769 --> 00:06:55.719
Having grown up as a Muslim in Pakistan,

00:06:55.719 --> 00:07:01.630
I didn't have that much information about 
Hindu mythology. When I came here,

00:07:01.630 --> 00:07:06.839
I realized that these were the things 
which still interested me.

00:07:09.364 --> 00:07:10.784
(paper rustles)

00:07:16.170 --> 00:07:18.955
I was looking at the idea of the

00:07:18.955 --> 00:07:21.705
Hindu goddess. It didn't matter how

00:07:21.705 --> 00:07:25.665
many hands it had, just the notion that 
it was the female body with several hands

00:07:25.665 --> 00:07:31.555
was important. But the goddess had a very 
specific face. Here, I was stripping off

00:07:31.555 --> 00:07:35.028
the face and putting a headdress, like the

00:07:35.028 --> 00:07:39.365
veil, on top of it. Yet the veil is on 
top of a Hindu goddess.

00:07:40.495 --> 00:07:43.830
Not to underestimate what's 
behind the veil.

00:07:47.316 --> 00:07:49.936
The miniatures bring the word 'veil' into

00:07:49.936 --> 00:07:56.936
the equation. It kind of connects you to 
a Muslim identity, or a woman's identity.

00:07:56.936 --> 00:07:59.506
These are very loaded issues to take on,

00:07:59.506 --> 00:08:01.165
because anything and everything

00:08:01.165 --> 00:08:05.935
associated with Islam is either terrorism 
or oppression for women.

00:08:07.527 --> 00:08:11.527
Culturally, it's not my experience.

00:08:13.097 --> 00:08:17.097
My grandparents, my parents... Everybody 
was very, very progressive,

00:08:17.097 --> 00:08:18.717
very supportive people.

00:08:18.717 --> 00:08:25.540
My grandfather was very encouraging 
towards careers for women - for everybody.

00:08:25.968 --> 00:08:29.399
All the girls in the family did something 
with their lives.

00:08:30.534 --> 00:08:34.344
SIKANDER'S MOTHER: But then I was more 
keen... "If she's going to the National

00:08:34.344 --> 00:08:40.116
College of Art, then she might as well do 
architecture, which has scope." You know,

00:08:40.116 --> 00:08:44.116
when she said Fine Arts, one was a bit...

00:08:44.116 --> 00:08:47.739
You know, at the most, you just hang 
a few paintings in the house...

00:08:47.917 --> 00:08:50.937
Whether you have a future or not...
(BOTH LAUGH)

00:08:50.937 --> 00:08:54.477
- So I was skeptical about that...
- (SHAHZIA) Sorry!

00:08:54.879 --> 00:08:56.714
(machinery whirs)

00:09:01.743 --> 00:09:02.783
(rustling)

00:09:05.583 --> 00:09:07.788
(SHAHZIA) This type of work for me was

00:09:07.788 --> 00:09:11.788
just the opposite of doing 
miniature painting.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(machinery whirs)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(paper rustles)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
This particular installation is much, 
much more spontaneous

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and it's always a challenge, because

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
the decisions made are fast.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It involves my entire body. I'm

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
working within the space and I'm up and

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
down the ladders and I'm painting,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and everything kind of happens from 
start till end within four to five days.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
So there's a certain energy which comes out.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(paper rustles)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
There is a certain sense of a low relief,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
where several drawings have been hung 
on top of each other.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(paper slides)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
There's no intention to hide anything.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Everything is very visible.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The paper is transparent.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It flows, it moves...

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
The idea comes out of this whole

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
relationship to veiling and 
revealing.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(distant footsteps, paper rustles)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I'm always taking photographs, doing

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
sketches or taking notes.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Then, I carry them wherever I go.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I brought so much stuff from Pakistan

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and then so much stuff from Texas,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and every time I sit to do some work,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
all of it is opened up.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(machinery whirs)
(switch clicks)

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
For me, it's always like these 
divine circles.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
(laughs) 
You know, you go and you experience

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
something, and you come back right where

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
you started.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
When I'm working large and I paint

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
and do murals, the next thing is: always

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I come back to miniature painting.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
I can hate miniature for a while,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
because it's frustrating, 
for all the different reasons

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of doing something so labor-intensive

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
which takes years to make.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
It's always like, 'Why do I do this?'

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
And I'll let go, and I'll do 
something else,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
but I always come back to it.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Maybe because the sheer act of doing it

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
gives me a certain sort of peace.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
♪ (contemplative music) ♪

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
♪ (outro music) ♪

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
VOICEOVER: To order a 2-tape set

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
of art:21 - Art in the 21st Century on 
video cassette

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
or the companion book to the program,

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
call PBS Home Video at 
1-800-PLAY-PBS.

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
To learn more about art:21 - Art in the 
21st Century, and to download the free

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
Teacher's Guide, please visit PBS online 
at PBS.org

99:59:59.999 --> 99:59:59.999
♪ (outro music) ♪