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Zarina Hashmi
[[Left-hand side of page: Photograph of Zarina Hashmi posing next to her art]]
-a Passion for Paper
by Beena Sarwar

A Muslim lady artist, living in New York since 1975, now exhibiting her work in her home country, India, at the Government's invitation and expense - and she doesn't paint, sculpt or even look eccentric. Zarina Hashmi is an individualist; how many artists do you know of who use as their medium not oils, not charcoal, not marble, in fact, not any of the established media, but paper alone.
Medium height, with shoulder length black hair, a well-modulated voice, a quiet, modest manner and total self-assurance: that was the first impression I received of this extraordinary lady. Although herself an Indian national, most of her family lives in Pakistan. She is planning an exhibition here next year (at the Arts Council). 
I had just been told that I would be meeting an artist: I assumed that she would be a painter. It took some time for the fact to sink in (She assumed that I 'knew') that she was neither that, nor a sculptor, nor in any of the established areas of 'art'. What she actually does is paper making and what she calls "paper-casting". At first I thought that paper-casting was a variation of paper mache. It is similar, but the art form developed by Zarina involves design, sculpture, even architecture, and yet retains an identity of its own.
The paper I make has a quality and a character of its own. And it has a long life. Look at the ordinary paper around you - how long will a page from your "Star", for example, last? But then it is made from wood pulp, and is not made for lasting. But the paper I use for printmaking, or the paper that any artist uses must be durable and of good quality.
When she is able to visit Pakistan for a longer period of time than she did now, Zarina hopes to travel to the interior in search of traditional paper-making techniques - so far, she says, she has not heard of any.

Honour

After three years in India, she went to W. Germany where she studied silk screen painting for another three years, and then to Japan to study woodblock printing and paper-making - in yet another tradition. The paper is made from the barks of trees, and the final product is strong, yet delicate and translucent. Zarina was "struck by its beauty and character" and it was then that she really began to "think of paper as paper". She then moved to New York; in the United States her work has received considerable acclaim, judging from the innumerable places she has held lectures, workshops and exhibitions, though she herself is reticent about it and gets a bit embarrassed, saying modestly, "I'm just a small fry..." Apart from the United States, she has held exhibitions in various cities in India, Greece, Norway, Belgium, Yugoslavia, West Germany, and Italy, and her work has even been on display in a museum in New York, something which is considered quite an honour.
The result of her various travels and experiences developed and matured her art, increased her involvement with paper. For paper-casting, Zarina makes the required pulp from cotton rags and waste cotton from the mid-western United States. When the pulp is ready, pigments, mostly earth colours or powdered graphite, are mixed in it. Zarina never uses anything synthetic, either chemicals or colours. Paradoxically enough, despite her emphasis on nature and natural things, she never does any figure drawing or landscape painting, which she considers to be Western Phenomena.

Process

Anyway, to get back to paper-casting, after the mixture of pulp and pigments is ready, she adds size, which makes it resilient to the moisture in the atmosphere, and more pliable to her needs. The whole thing is then poured onto a prepared mould, made id "plasti-glass" (a wooden one would contain acids which can destroy the finished work). Most of the water can be taken out with a sponge, and the remaining water is left to dry in the mould. The drying process can take up to three weeks. Once absolutely dry, the cast is removed from the mould, the surface treated and rubbed with various materials until it has the desired patina. The finished product looks like stone, due to the powdered graphite. 
Zarina works in her studio (New York) is self supporting, though she continues to give lectures and hold workshops.
Paper-making has recently received new life in the U.S. but paper-casting is not so common yet. Says Zarina "I don't really care what people say about my work. I am not ambitious - well, yes, actually I am - but I must satisfy myself first. And that is what I am doing now."

[[Bottom Margin; in pen]]
THE STAR DATED 13-5-1982