I had never really thought of exhibiting my work but for the last three years my husband had mentioned it several times that I should submit it somewhere. I guess when I think about it, my relationship with my art isn’t like the poetry I create. It doesn’t have to be shared and it’s always been a way of relaxing and switching off from the world 🙂
I often pop into the local art gallery and on this occasion I asked about submitting some work. It was accepted by email and then one morning I took some sketches and watercolours down to the gallery…and there it was, the next day, beautifully and thoughtfully displayed. My work! I had to pinch myself! What a proud moment it was. Haha! Now the wall outside my study is bare!
I completed a second art course (Watercolours) in the summer and I was busy at home during the last three weeks of this, convalescing from a neck injury. I couldn’t sit through the class much, watched the demo by the tutor and came home. I call the set of watercolour paintings the ‘Made in Pain’ collection because I did most of these during the early stage of the injury which meant I couldn’t move my neck much and the sharp stabbing pain from two slipped discs was unbearable and debilitating but while painting I felt I could numb myself somehow by distracting the focus into hours of painting. Art really did prove to be an analgesic for me. I found myself capturing places onto canvas with paint and it seemed to happen very naturally. After my trip to Pakistan and Puglia in Italy I was inspired to either write or paint the images or document them somehow permanently. My poetry often creates scenarios to convey underlying themes and similarly my art during this period took on the same style. I wanted to communicate my feelings when I was in these places: my aunt’s room in Pakistan, her empty chair, the solitary grey concrete house in the lush fields in the village that I walked past daily, the eery silence palpable through a window in Rohtas Fort, the carefree blissful moments up in the Malvern Hills, the physical confinement but peace felt in my garden during a difficult time of recovery…and so on.
A big thank you to everyone at the gallery in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham, for their interest and support and a huge thanks to my close friends and family for their encouragement and constant support.
x
Nabila Jameel 