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♪ (intro music) ♪

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(water drips)

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SHAHZIA SIKANDER: There's something about [br]the process, the miniature process of

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painting in this scale, primarily, [br]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... [br]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 [br]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 [br]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 [br]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 [br]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 [br]they're not sealed.

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So, it's practice.

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Sometimes, when I'm not in practice,

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all of ten years of experience doesn't [br]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 [br]to leave your shoes outside.

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Everything was very precise and very clean[br]and very minimal.

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You worked on your work and [br]did eye exercises.

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You kept your work at least [br]a foot away from your eyes.

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It was very methodical. [br]It was very ritualistic, also.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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I feel like why I loved miniature painting[br]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 [br]paper with a particular set of materials.

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But it was all about surface, palette, [br]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 [br]and 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 [br]the Quran, where I would read it with no

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

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understand it. The memory of it is this [br]amazing visual memory where

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the beauty of the written word [br]supersedes everything else.

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The meaning is there, but it's not [br]just the meaning - it's the ability of the

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written text to take you [br]to that other level.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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

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to experiment with it, [br]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, [br]whether it's small or it's large,

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actually begins as simple drawings, which [br]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 [br]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 [br]about Hindu mythology.

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When I came here, I realized that these [br]were the things which still interested me.

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(paper rustles)

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I was looking at the idea [br]of the Hindu goddess.

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It didn't matter how many hands it had,

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just the notion that it was the female [br]body with several hands was important.

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But the goddess had a very specific face.

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Here, I was stripping off the face [br]and putting a headdress, like the veil,

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on top of it. Yet the veil is on [br]top of a Hindu goddess.

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Not to underestimate what's [br]behind the veil.

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The miniatures bring the word 'veil' [br]into the equation.

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It kind of connects you to a [br]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 [br]or oppression for women.

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Culturally, it's not my experience.

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My grandparents, my parents... Everybody [br]was very, very progressive,

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very supportive people.

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

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All the girls in the family did something [br]with their lives.

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

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College of Art, then she might as well do [br]architecture, which has scope."

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You know, when she said: [br]"Fine Arts," one was a bit...

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At the most, you just hang [br]a few paintings in the house...

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

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- So I was skeptical about that...[br]- (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 the process of [br]doing miniature painting.

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(machinery whirs)

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(paper rustles)

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This particular installation is much, [br]much more spontaneous

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and it's always a challenge, because [br]the decisions made are fast.

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It involves my entire body. I'm [br]working within the space

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and I'm up and down the ladders [br]and I'm painting,

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

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So there's a certain energy [br]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 [br]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 [br]and revealing.

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(distant footsteps, paper rustles)

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I'm always taking photographs, [br]doing 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 [br]and then so much stuff from Texas,

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and every time I sit to do some work, [br]all of it is opened up.

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(machinery whirs)[br](switch clicks)

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

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(laughs) [br]You know, you go and you experience

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something, and you come back right [br]where 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 [br]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, [br]for all the different reasons

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of doing something so labor-intensive [br]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 [br]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 [br]gives me a certain sort of peace.

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♪ (contemplative music) ♪

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♪ (outro music) ♪

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VOICEOVER: To order a 2-tape set [br]of art:21 - Art in the 21st Century

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on video cassette [br]or the companion book to the program,

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call PBS Home Video at [br]1-800-PLAY-PBS.

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To learn more about art:21 - [br]Art in the 21st Century,

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and to download the free Teacher's Guide, [br]please visit PBS online at PBS.org

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♪ (outro music) ♪