Retrospective exhibition
October 2009
Zu Studios
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Samira had an exhibition at Zu studios from 10th-18th October 2009.
The following images are photos of the exhibition, information about sponsors and the pictures in the exhibition.
ZU STUDIOS
Zu Studios in Lewes is a multi dimensional arts space. Formerly the Lewes Foundry, this magical riverside warehouse has evloved into a thriving community venue.
Samira is one of the resisdent artists and is very grateful to be offered one of the main open spaces to present her work.
Samira is very fortunate to have a number of companies interested in sponsoring the exhibition. If you are interested in finding out more about these companies please click on their logo below and it will link to their websites:
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The exhibition will be presented chronilogically which will show the evolution of Samira's art both thematically and stylistically. It will also give an insight as to what inspired both the collections and individual pieces.
The following works are a small selection of pieces which will be in the exhibition. Many of the originals will be for sale as well as prints available.
Samira's early work was focused on sexuality, vulnerability and exploring different cultural and society persectives of women. This multi-media picture was created when Samira was 17.
After Samira's father died Samira, aged 21, went through six introspective months in which she drew herself naked. The vulnerability of her mourning and nakedness resulted in powerful drawings which seemed to reflect her inner state more than her outer beauty.
Afterly the deeply personal self protrait stage, Samira started to bridge her emotional sensitivity and imagination with her interest in society, particularly the masculine and femine dynamic.
This image, called Shameetah, is about alter-egos and male egos. The image represents an alter-ego Samira created for herself when she was younger and wanted to seem sophisticated when going to nightclubs. However, Samira quickly realised the men in the hot London venues were not interested in her, just 'having' her. She saw a parrellel between this alpha male attitude and the type of man who would see a beautiful animal running free and shoot it to have the skin on the floor. At this moment Samira realised that this 'protective skin' was actually disempowering rather than empowering and therefore she would shed the skin onto paper.
At the time the Iraq war was brewing Samira was an avid newspaper reader and was horrified by the developments. The headlines are designed to tap into the emotional angle of war and feed the sense of sorrow but you are also left feeling powerless to stop it. Samira created hundreds of posters by hand in protest of the war and some images like the one above which brings the story back to the child, or the innocence, within each of us that is screaming at the bombardment of violence presented in attention grabbing headlines everyday.
The picture to the left was created when Samira's world got flipped by a person close to her going through mental illness. The reality is so challenging Samira felt completely lost and the picture reflects her looking to the heavens for help in trust their will be another step to take as she steps of the edge of the page. The picture was created in bleach and ink very quickly and instinctively without source material.
The picture to the right was created directly afterwards and show the total exhaustion that comes with having no more to give.
When Samira turned 25 she gifted herself a workshop with Meriel Gold who teaches a workshop called Drawn Home. This really brought her back to the heart of art, the experimental process and the beauty of our connection with all things as human beings. Samira is truely grateful to have such an inspirational teacher who reminded her how to connect with the wonder of life and led to a deeply healing process which shows within her artistic expression.
As Samira continued to work with the techniques she learnt from Meriel she found her own artistic short-hand develop. Pictures like the one above demonstrate this development of visual language. ths image was created in under two minutes from lfe using both hands, ink and conte chalks.
Over four years of drawing life models resulted in a shift into colour. Experimenting with colour as well as line started to bring a dimension to the work which Samira found really exciting and resulted in lots of energetic pieces of work. See more in the figure in form collection.
When Samira didn't have a model she continued to explore the same techniques of exploring the nature of her senses and the nature of the materials she was using. This resulted in a range of abstract pieces on paper which to Samira are accurate reflections of emotional states which are difficult to define in words or even in articulated images.
Paper led to canvas and the work continued in the experimental nature.
Samira has been developing this abstract style for a number of years and the piece above is an example of some of her most recent work of which there will be a number of pieces in the retrospective.
The next stage of Samira's work is combining the free expression of the abstract with her skills in understanding form to create pieces that seem to come from the cosmos!
The image to the left is called Zu Orbs.
This is the only time this collection will ever be displayed together as the work will be for sale.
If you are interested in any particular work but can not be at the exhibition smair can send you a listing of the works on sale and the prices. Please go to her contact page.