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Fine Arts

[[3 Images of Zarina Hashim's artwork displayed]]

sure in modelling houses in mud and clay. My family didn't take art schools very seriously, so I thought I'd become an engineer. 

I took science and mathematics in school and later thought of becoming an architect. I didn't realise at that time what little chance architects get to designs houses! When the time came for further studies I didn't get admission, so the next step was marriage! In my early twenties, I married and travelled with my husband to Bangkok (he was a diplomat). I was fascinated by everything. I learnt to speak the language and became interested in the art happenings around me. I spent a lot of time in the temples making rubbings and studied woodcut. Of course, I was surrounded by disapproval. In fact, all my life I have had to contend with disapproval.

Q. Did your husband disapprove of your interests?
A. He liked it as long as it remained a hobby, a "social" thing. When he realised it was something much more serious, he didn't like it. He was a brilliant man and highly-educated; so even though he disapproved, he did not stop me. The turning point in my life came when my husband was posted to France after Bangkok. 

In Paris, I discovered the Atelier 17 - the best school in the world run by a world-famous printmaker, Stanley William Hayter. It was just the right time for me. I went to see Hayter. I was very shy and scared - he was such a renowned teacher. But he was very kind to me. He took me on as a pupil and I spent four years learning the techniques of print-making. Hayter always told me I had the ability to achieve anything I wanted. Whatever I have achieved in art is largely due to him.

Those were wonderful years, wonderful and the most difficult of my life. The conflict between my home, my work and my personal life was an enormous strain.

Q. What was the outcome of it all?
A. Well, when we returned to Delhi after Paris, I knew it was time to face up to circumstances. I decided to make my life on my own. I took a small studio on rent and started to live and work in the studio and really it was such a relief to have charge of my own life. 

Q. You were into woodcut and printmaking at that time?
A. Yes, and getting more involved in paper. I got a press made and rented a bigger studio. I started a workshop and got an enormous response. I had my first solo exhibition in Delhi and was awarded the President's Medal for Graphics that year. I became part of the art scene. Within three years, I was well-established and participated in many international shows.

Q. Did you live on your earnings as an artist?
A. I made enough money to live very simply. I have been lucky enough to have steady sales right from the beginning. I never accepted help from my family; the moment you accept help people start to tell you what to do and try to run your life. I did accept help from my husband from time to time and why not? I see cases constantly of male artists whose wives work to support them and rush home from

The Herald, June 1985.   81