India & UK

The main focus in my work as an artist is nature and the natural world so for the Artdom project I wanted to explore this idea in relation to equality. Equality is about mutual respect, kindness, fairness and respecting the balance and harmony of nature. The figure of the woman in my piece is central. She is part of the natural world with plants and leaves growing out of her like a tree and also within her. She and nature are one entity, in balance, a harmonious relationship.

As a woman, nurturing comes naturally to us, I feel. And nothing nurtures us like nature! She lets us breathe, live, sing, dance, let’s us express and explore our inner world to it’s pinnacle. Equality is a given which we have allowed to be forgotten. Kindness is a virtue we have allowed to be ignored. Harmony and balance are the lodestones of our daily lives, which nature reminds us of, each day that we rise, shine and walk.

When I first came across the project on Instagram I was intrigued by the opportunity to work with other female artists in such a unique format, but also moved by the idea behind Artdom, it felt very timely, powerful. Putting together a group of women artists across two continents and pairing them in a way to share the responsibility of creating one artwork addressing big topics, it’s a powerful way of moving forward with our artistic voices into areas we may not have articulated or felt confident with alone.

There is an importance for women of different cultures to come together in solidarity and establish a platform for deeper understanding of social issues. Artdom has taken a step forward through art in establishing such a platform. The unique idea of getting two artists from different countries to paint on each half of the canvas is a method of starting a dialogue between two unknown minds and providing an kaleidoscopic insight to the spectator.

My piece shows three women in a race. I use vintage photographs and old home movies to find interesting imagery, and had collected many compositions involving women in sport- themes of strength, competing, achieving and winning gave me the link to equality. However it also brings in to question to notion of hierarchy, of the inequality involved in capitalist, competitive societies. And of women competing with each other in status, beauty and youth.

My body of work depicts two dancers caught at their artistic peek in a movement during a performance. To me my work for this project represents the state of equilibrium between these two women, in a state of time where they are one, in a single motion, giving their very best to each other, and receiving an equal representation for their talent, a natural state as performers to work in a unit and share glory, hardship, responsibility and love towards creativity.

This painting is about equality in body autonomy. It is about how our bodies are dissected in society but also how we then dissect them ourselves. This self fragmentation can cause a dissociation from our physical body. This is painted from a women’s perspective (as it is a self portrait) but I think the feeling is universal. In fact I believe that in order to achieve equality we have to make the personal universal - so everyone can feel engaged and included towards the striving for equality.

The painting, just like an individual being, even though a unique phenomenon in itself, lives its own process of creation and interaction of the internal and external. I’ve always felt in tune with the world around me as I’ve followed my intuition. A mermaid in the sea, is a goddess of love and she symbolizes insight and wisdom. A Mermaid as a sacred feminine, in the ocean feels free because there’s no power being asserted on her!

Artdom is so important to me; my work speaks about feminist issues, such as female objectification, and the fight for equality is something, as a young woman, I care deeply about. In my painting I wanted to express the fight for equality through the power and freedom in the female nude. The nude female body is not just a sexual object, rather an honest and open, beautiful body. She lies exposed but free, and looks directly at the viewer with confidence and defiance.

When I first looked at Melissa’s half of the painting, a woman lying on cloth, naked, vulnerable and yet looking so powerful, so full of confidence and strength, it reminded me of how vulnerability is not weakness. Vulnerability is the core of our deepest emotions and feelings. As women, In our attempts to prevent shame or embarrassment or sadness or guilt, we also prevent ourselves from experiencing EQUALITY, love, belonging, joy, empathy and the immense strength we can gain from experiencing these things.

I didn’t initially feel connected to the theme of equality. But during my summer holiday, I went to see my parents, and I realized that I won’t inherit anything after my parents passed away just because of one reason. I’m a woman. The same goes for my sister in law, who lost her parents long ago. She also didn’t inherit anything from her parents. I think it’s a cultural thing. Always sons get everything and daughters don’t get nothing.

There’s nothing more magical than women coming together to empower each other and challenge regressive social norms. And it’s the beauty of this resistance that I wanted to capture through the bursts of colors, strokes and textures that embody the kind of womanhood that transforms and transcends our present world.

I thought about this year’s theme which was Equality and immediately as a woman coming from Iran, I thought about the gender bias and inequality that women are experiencing in every level. In our current world it has been interpreted as toxic masculinity which is aiming to control and supress the female energy. It’s crucial for the male and female energy to come to equilibrium and dance that beautiful harmonized dance without one pushing or pulling the other.

Shakti - The Power of the feminine, The essence of creation. Without her there is no manifestation She is the light, She is the fire She is the force and all that she desires. Shakti She Walks her path Chooses her journey Finds her home Defines her destiny Rising above many She is Shakti!

My painting is about a woman who is reclining on a sphere. This is at least my half of the painting. She’s reclining. It’s a very symbolical painting, She’s reclining on this sphere, which can be interpreted as the world or as the moon. The moon culturally is always associated with the women, female charm, with the female power. The woman has got a very moody expression, a very dreamy expression. And also the hair is a little bit like floating.

The painting titled “Meeting halfway around the Globe” portrays two women belonging to completely different parts of the world coming together within the painting. They are complementing and sharing the feminine energy that connects them inspite of cultural, religious and social differences. One of the women is reclining on the sphere which can be interpreted as the spherical globe. She gazes at the audience hoping to convey the message of gender equality.

This painting is based on the game of exquisite corpse. I have divided the canvas into quarters giving four women an equal platform to celebrate their achievements. The ‘horse’s’ head is inspired by Leonora Carrington (1917–2011), a surrealist painter who was overlooked in favour of her male counterparts. The torso is that of Elizabeth I (r.1558-1603) one of the most influential queens in British history.

I started painting in my childhood and was very fond of it. I am very happy to be part of Artdom project with Arghavan. I try portraying childhood memories. The moments with our friends, parents and many more things from our childhood days. Matching my color scheme to my co-artist was a bit tough, because I am working in a dark colour scheme and she painted it in a light color scheme.