Making Wonders: Henna Art on Silkscreen

    - Posted on: May 21, 2014 | Post your comment here Comments

    Google Translation: اُردو | 中文

    Making Wonders: Henna Art on Silkscreen

    Henna Art on Silkscreen

    Hina Haider Fancy is a brilliant young artist-cum-designer who graduated from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in 2009. Currently, she is working as the head of textile and fashion design at Rani Emaan, a multi-national brand based in Rawalpindi. She also works as a freelance textile designer in Karachi and creates hand-printed screens in silk and cotton. She has previously worked with Nida Azwer in Karachi. After that, she also worked with Dwellings and Macy’s at the State College of Pennsylvania in the USA. Recently, Fancy launched her first ever solo exhibition, in Nomad Gallery Islamabad, presenting her marvelous wonders thoroughly appreciated by the guests. The exhibition, titled ‘Silent Birds’, displays the silk print collection of the incredibly talented artist. She used natural henna to portray different types of birds, on pure silk fabric, composed with intricate patterns and eye-catching imagery. The product, consisting of 38 pieces in total, turned out to be absolutely pristine and extraordinarily beautiful. The audience was full of praise for this truly novel and interesting approach to textile designing. Fancy maintains that the message behind her work has no predetermined limit; its interpretation is open to the audience’s imagination. This exhibition will run till May 31.

    Artist’s statement:

    "I found inspiration in my name, Hina (henna in Urdu). Pushing through my immense dislike of the smell of natural henna, the endless possibilities that I could achieve with it raptured me. It had so much potential; the patterns, the medium itself. I got fanatical and I never looked back. I dyed with it, I printed with it, and I painted with it. I dug my hands in it. I only knew one thing, I wanted it to be completely chemical free, to use it in its natural state with only pure fabrics. I used henna to create anything and everything, with variety of expression as my key - depiction of moods or textures or harmony. For the smaller pieces, there remains no restrictions to subjects and there are no limitations to interpretation. All are silent. The larger pieces are what one may call a tribute to birds. For me, the birds signify joy, they signify freedom. I just had to work with them. I refused to restrict myself to a particular bird or theme. One can find peacocks, ravens, sparrows and even flamingoes in settings that are inspired by modern and traditional art found all over the world, be it Japanese or Finnish. I am predominantly a textile designer and not a fine artist. I have simply created what I wanted to, any hidden meaning attached, or any interpretation of my work, remains the purview of my audience."

    Click to view picture gallery