Transfiguration: Art of Sabina Haque

On a Friday evening this past October 27th, Richmond's ArtSpace brought Sabina Haque, an artist of South Asian descent, to the City for a special exhibit of her work. Sabina was raised in Pakistan by her American-European (Catholic mother) and her Pakistani (Muslim) father. She converted from Christianity to Islam and married a medical doctor from India (Hindu). She titled her show "Transfiguration--a personal synthesis of clashing cultural viewpoints." Her art show presented a series of digitally collaged light boxes, paintings and a tapestry, all of which synthesize her complex relationship to her diverse Christian/Muslin/Hindu heritage. Through her art she examines issues of race, geopolitics, gender and sexuality across cultural boundaries. She uses her own body as a narrative tool. In her Artist statement she explains a digital collage oil painting, "Rebirth."

"I emerge out of the delicate pink petals of a lotus flower, with my arms outstretched akin to Christ's crucifixion. Out of my hands water flows freely; this references spiritual healing but also parallels the wounds of Christ. In the East, the lotus flower is viewed as a symbolf of spiritual renewal. Growing in muddy water, it rises up at dawn to bloom above the surface, and closes at night to sink under water again. I combine familiar Muslim, Christian and Hindu religious symbols into talismans of personal spiritual struggles and metaphors for mystical journeys."

Immediately inside the room to the left hung a 12-foot wall black and red tapestry titled "Holy Intersections" in which she wove together passages of the Bible and the Koran to form a transnational quilt or flag that "represents the coming together of two creation myths." She told me that she went to the Dollar Store and bought a copy of the Bible and cut out the passages on compassion. Then she found an inexpensive copy of the Koran and cut it up too. She glued hundreds of passages from each text onto the tapestry.

Sabina's art is some of the most shockingly beautiful and profoundly moving I have ever seen in my life. I was so fortunate to meet her and listen as she freely shared with me her creative process. She had taught art to high school students in West Virignia for a few years before moving to Oregon where she now resides. Though she appeared very young - in her 30's - she was obviously a very old soul. Although her paintings and light boxes can be seen on her website, http://www.sabinahaque.com/, viewing the actual show at ARTSPACE at 4th and Hull Streets in Richmond and meet Sabina in person was a great inspiration.

In her artist statement, Sabina explains her how her multicultural heritage influences her creative process.

"In the 1950's my Norwegian grandmother learned to forget her native tongue and lost touch with her family in her country assimilating into the melting pot of America. Two generations later, here I am retaining parts ofmy culture, language, nationalism and reinventing what it means to be an American. As the face of America changes so does the meaning of the word "multicultural." Using the medium of collage, photography and video, I explore the complex, fragmented and multiple meanings of "globalization" and "multiculturalism" and their significance in American culture today. My art seeks to interpret issues of race, cultural identity and religion through working across media, in between the spaces of art and culture, painting and digital media.

"In my work I use the iconographic image of the American flag to take on multiple roles. In some places the flag becomes a symbol representing mass cultural identity; yet at other times, it becomes a part of my individual self. I ask the viewer to examine who are you really looking at. Can we define and categorize someone according to gender, culture, politics or religion?

"The bold color, scale, directness and naivete of the mixed media collages reference poster art and the duratrans light boxes allude to the world of advertising and mass media. Thework has an immediacy and directness and reaches out to the viewer. My personal fusion of opposing cultural perspectives plays a potent role in contemporary American society, as these symbols increasingly provide the political and social language for talking about the nation's goals, aspirations and identify.

"Nehru writes in his autobiography: 'I am a quaint blend of the east and the west. At east everywhere, at home nowhere.' Yet, unlike him, I feel comfortably at home, gliding in and out of both worlds, adopting for myself the best aspects of my collective traditions, customs and way of life. My paintings and my professional career seek to synthesize these cross-cultural and multi-dimensional worldviews reaching out to a larger audience touching their human sensibilities with a universally shared experience."

Wow....