Tanzara Gallery takes pleasure in presenting once again the works of Australian/Pakistani artist Nazia Ejaz who is successfully building a niche for herself in the local and international art market. The Australian High Commissioner, H.E. Margaret Adamson will inaugurate the paintings exhibition at Tanzara Gallery on Monday 10th September at 5.00 PM.
Nazia has worked with various artistic themes exploring them in myriad new ways. Her recent body of work is the continuation of the artist’s innovative reflection on the theme of perception and identity. This exhibition titled “This is about nothing II” is a body of work resulting from an in depth study of the correlation between the social environment and our perception of it. Nazia’s work is avant-garde in nature – Emphasizing on repetitive patterns and line, she successfully takes liberty in translating her thoughts into exquisite linear rhythms. Her canvases emphasize on patterns comprising of curves, loops, circles allowing meandering lines to create their own magical effect. The work is imbibed with vibrant coloration and texture. The compositions are balanced and accommodated within a scheme of rhythm and flow. There prevails an atmosphere of ease and fluency bringing a soothing uplifting touch. Highlighting the painterly quality without adding any external element, Nazia successfully renders her feelings through striking patterns and textures, imbuing her canvasses with a refined sense of aesthetics.
Nazia Ejaz has numerous group and solo exhibitions to her credit in various countries including Australia, UK and Pakistan. She received her Graduate Diploma in Indian Art History at School of Asian and African Studies (SOAS) / Sotheby’s Institute UK in 1996 and is recipient of Staff Nomination Award, University of South Australia, 2015. She has a double Masters in Fine Art from The Slade School of Art, London and University of South Australia, respectively. Her work is part of various private and public collections including Clifford Chance London, UK and V&A Museum London, UK.
In keeping with its tradition of offering quality art to its patrons, Tanzara presents Nazia Ejaz’s latest work. The PR was handled by Catalyst PR & Marketing
Biography
Nazia Ejaz is from Lahore Pakistan. She graduated from the National College of Arts, Lahore in 1992 before going to London for her Masters in Visual Arts from the Slade School of Art, UCL in 1996. Further on, she acquired her graduate diploma in Indian Art History form School of Asian and African Studies (SOAS) / Sotheby’s – London, UK in 1996 and Master of Visual Art and Creative Practice from University of South Australia in 2016. Ejaz has numerous group and solo exhibitions on her credit in various countries including Australia, UK and Pakistan. She got a Scholarship for Graduate Diploma in Indian Art History at School of Asian and African Studies (SOAS) / Sotheby’s Institute UK in1996 and is recipient of Staff Nomination Award, University of South Australia, 2015. Her work is part of various private and public collections including Clifford Chance London, UK and V&A Museum London, UK.
She has worked as a printmaker, painter, and teacher in the UK, Australia and Pakistan. Nazia has lived in Australia since 2005. She now lives in Karachi, Pakistan
‘Then, break the glass panes … with the fragments, compose a stained glass.’
Claude Cahun, 1930
My work explores themes of perception and identity. Our perception of the environment, of others and also ourselves, is influenced by external factors that shape our understanding, sometimes unknowingly. This work is about the correlation between the social environment and our perception of it.
I am interested in binaries that permeate multiple levels of societal perceptions and interactions, turning them into mediated experiences. How an individual perceives and relates to the social environment, the idea of connection and separation is the basis of my work. I use geometry and patterns in my practice to suggest an external order or organization enforced onto the surface of the canvas. These patterns continue the theme of ‘screens’ that has been central to my recent practice.
Within the Indo/Islamic architecture tradition, screens are used for separation, for demarcating a space, to form boundaries, to shroud and reveal, depending on the perspective of the viewer. The architectural device keeps out and keeps in, and in the process of ordering the environment produces something else.
Similarly, the motif of the grid operates as a screen that filters and constricts and constrains. They are metaphors for points of separation within a space. The patterns within the work speak to notions of cultural difference and similarity, to constructions of gender and identity, in front of, behind, and within a problematic screen.
The use of repetition as a meditative tool within my practice is an attempt to break down conscious thought about a subject through repetition to a point where the process and materials allow access to deeper knowledge about the subject. Even though the naissance of my work is from binaries within language, the act of repetition allows a certain freedom of thought outside linguistic formulations, into abstract territory.
Nazia Ejaz
