Interview: Vaseem Mohammed

‘FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR TERRITORIES’

"While I was studying at college (Art & Design Foundation Course) I took a conscious decision to abstain from drawing human or animal figures in accordance with orthodox Islamic law, and rather then being restricted, it opened many avenues of experimentation." (Vaseem Mohammed)

IAM: In your earlier paintings dominates the landscape. It is simplified in its form and inspired by Eastern architecture. The colour is also very intense. Tell us more about this phase of your work.

VASEEM MOHAMMED: In 1989, I took time out from my life in London and spent 4 months in Pakistan. This had a huge impact on me. There was blazing sunlight, bright colours were celebrated, and despite the aged and decrepit architecture, there was vibrancy to the environment. On my return to the UK, my work was influenced partly by what I had seen and mainly by Pakistani culture where I was trying to assert my Pakistani identity here in Britain. Images from Pakistani heritage naturally contain abstracted art forms, as an extension of the arabesques of our Islamic past. In my early work, I was interested in investigating jewellery and pattern before I began looking into architecture. My uses of colour were a collaboration of these 3 components.

IAM: In later works your landscape texture turns into the different types of textures inspired by those from the everyday environment. This is certainly an even bigger step towards the abstraction.

VASEEM MOHAMMED: With time and research I began noticing that the winding alleyways, domes and courtyards I was painting from my memory of Multan, a walled desert city in Pakistan, were universal to the old medians across much of the Muslim world. This realisation was developing alongside me learning that my Muslim identity was more important and relevant to me than my Pakistani one, which I did not entirely understand or relate to anyway.

The rest of the article you can read in the magazine.