Maryam Baniasadi

Tell us about yourself. What is your background and where did you grow up? How have your life experiences shaped your work?

I was born in Brazil in 1993, grew up in Iran, India and Pakistan with my Iranian family so home was where my family was. I lived in different places due to nature of my fathers’ job. Pakistan was the destination where I’ve been living since 2012 till now.

Moving to Pakistan from Iran was a very difficult decision for me and I wasn’t very happy about it. During my first visit to Lahore, I visited National college of arts, the moment I walked in there I loved the campuses old building and the Mughal architecture. I knew I will be studying there.

In my work I’m very inspired from red brick walls this was the wall I would see all around the city and specially NCA building all these years. I depicted the campus in my bachelor’s thesis work, the contemporary life in a traditional miniature style. I think where I am now wouldn’t be the same if I had not move to Pakistan.

Why did you become an artist and what has been your journey up to this point?

I always wanted to be a painter, except that Iranian parents want their children to be a doctor or engineer, so I didn’t study arts in my high school. I resisted a lot and tried to convince my parents to let me study art, they were finally convinced after we moved to Pakistan. While I was studying miniature painting in Lahore, in summer holidays I would go to Iran and take classes of miniature painting. This really shaped my skills and concepts traveling between the two countries. I love travelling, wherever I go I get inspired with new ideas.

What is an average day in your studio like and what is your routine?

Every day after my morning coffee I go upstairs to my studio to play some music, write down my plans, do few sketches and start painting.

I usually spend 5 hours in my studio it’s my safe place at home, I have a beautiful view of trees. I approximately spend 2-3 productive hours a day to paint in my studio.

What is your creative process?

I love observing my surroundings, especially now that my work is inspired from nature and manmade objects, I see that everywhere, the rich green colour of Lahore and warm sienna bricks. Even when I’m driving, I stop to take a quick picture of what I like and when I get home, I sketch my ideas. After few sketches I transfer the final sketch to the paper. the creative process in my work is the idea first and then the subject.

How do you choose a medium for your work? Do you prepare and plan or do you improvise and experiment?

In my opinion medium should be what you are comfortable with. After experimenting with different mediums, I chose miniature painting technique which is gouache and watercolour on archival paper.

The details I can give with a thin squirrel hair brush, the gouache layer I apply to build the painting slowly and by rendering it with watercolours I give the details.

I usually plan but quick-thinking plan and then I sketch the idea on paper, and directly draw on my paper with pencil. After that I do the line work with water colour, I remove the pencil after I do the line work.

If I don’t like the way it is painted, I just wash the gouache and apply another layer. The process of miniature is step by step and you have to follow the steps. I like the discipline the miniature painting has, to me it gives a freedom because when I’m doing the first step, I’m already thinking about the changes I can give in the next layer.

Are your works conveying a message? Is there a narrative or a story to your work?

Yes, in my recent body of work I am very inspired by nature and manmade objects. In my compositions I paint both trees and objects together one is the man’s creation and the other is natures.

How man trims nature and places trees in specific settings for his own desire. However, most of the time nature is overpowering man’s object. The single trees which I painted each of them has an identity like a person. some has been trimmed or shaped like how humans are shaped by society to become better, but the tree constantly grows regardless of the hindrance.

Who and what are some of your greatest influences in both your life and as an artist?

The best influence on my work was that I could get my training from Iranian masters in Tehran during summer and apply that technique in Pakistan, I believe conceptually my teachers in Pakistan really assisted and technique wise I combined what I learned in Iran and Pakistan to create my own style of painting.

Do you consider your work of art a creation or a discovery?

It is a creation, what I paint is something completely new. you don’t see the flat trees in the nature nor the 2d rendererd bricks I look at nature and create my own perspective my own creation. It is the process of change.

Trees are natures creation; bricks are humans’ creation and paintings are my creation.