Her Own Spaces

Early family trips to historic destinations like Fatehpur Sikhri fuelled her interest in architecture – an element that still forms Zarina Hashmi’s work today. A global nomad who has lived in Aligarh, Bangkok, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz and New York, her work has drawings of houses which serve as portable repositories of her migrant life. Interestingly, the variations she developed throughout her career on the abodes’ shapes, sizes and floor plans form a recurrent presence in her myriad prints.

About her fifth solo show with Gallery Espace, Folding House, Hashmi says, “One day I picked up a strip of paper that had gold leaf stuck to its edge. As I folded the strip it became a house – the house that has followed me and parallels my life experience with all its twists and turns along the way. Paper and ink are my mediums of choice. Travels have informed my imagery…. Homes live in the imagination and dreams of people who leave the place they were born in.”

Folding House is on show till February 28, at Gallery Espace, New Delhi.