Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashna Malik.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Since I was 13 and first starting to take interest in art, I found myself picking up a paintbrush and drawing self-portrait after self-portrait, distorting each one in different ways, not knowing why I was creating what I was. This went on for years.
Years later upon introspection, I realized it came from a deep urge within me to discover who I was and my means for discovering had become art.
My art practice now has become less of a form of expression for me (though it is always going to be one) but more a form of learning. The process of stepping into my studio every day and making work helps me learn more about myself and learn the life lessons I need to. From learning lessons in patience, acceptance, adaptability. To day after day remembering to surrender to forces I can’t control. To resilience, faith and consistency. I grow every day as a person because of my practice. My work helps me see myself better and grow as a person and brings me closer to discovering who I am truly.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In high school when I expressed my interest to pursue art as career path, I was strongly discouraged and demotivated by my mentor and teacher, stating I wasn’t talented or driven enough. Despite that, something within me told me this was the right path for me.
Cut to 4 years later while I was in my final year at art school, I remember having a conversation with God (like I do every morning) and talking about the doubt I was feeling in myself and my work. Everyone in my class had seemed to have had shows and sold their work but that hadn’t happened for me yet. I walked into class that morning and the Chair of the painting department came up to me and told me that my entire body of work had been bought by my college for their permanent collection.
A year later, I graduated during the pandemic and lost my chance at many opportunities I had lined up. I moved to New York, shifted countless apartments, had to scale down my work down each time, I even packed up my supplies at one point and didn’t paint for months. But another push came around, I suddenly started getting flooded with inquiries and I unpacked my supplies and started working again.
After my visa expired, I moved back to Delhi and forced myself to start creating work at an unreasonable pace to try to make up for what I thought was a backtrack in my life. Which resulted in, unreasonable expectations from myself that I couldn’t meet, being hard on myself and horrible work. I applied for countless residencies , grants, open calls and didn’t hear back from anyone which led to once again slipping into doubt and hopelessness.
But the universe has always had my back and picked me up again. So here I am riding the wave and keeping the faith, in myself and that power that I know will keep pushing me forward to full fill my dreams.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a multidisciplinary artist who uses a combination of traditional and digital media to investigate ideas of perception, distortion, immersion, and experience. Through my spiritual journey, I have come to understand that the human mind operates on two levels, higher level of awareness and lower level of awareness. The lower level of awareness functions on the understanding that “my individual reality is the only reality” this understanding limits us and our growth. Based on these perceptions and understanding we confine ourselves. I want the viewer to question these perceptions and move towards and higher level of awareness, one where your perceptions are widened, one is more understanding and open to all possibilities.
Through paintings and interactive projections, I aim to have the viewer question their limited perception and understanding of reality through stimulating visuals. Using a combination of digital and traditional media, I push boundaries and provide the viewer with an encapsulating experience. Dynamic lines and vibrant colours create movement and distortion through optical play challenging the viewer’s perception of what they see and understand.
We are all creating a perception of the outer world. We form our perception based on our senses and our senses a limited. We can’t see beyond the room we are sitting in, but does that mean there is nothing outside of it? We can’t hear beyond what we are right now, but does that mean somewhere in the world there isn’t a horn blaring on a busy street? Since our senses are limited so is our perception and so is our reality. My work aims to make a viewers question what they’re seeing and in turn make them question their reality.
What makes you happy?
At any moment where I am my “natural self”, purely me, whatever that may be for that moment. Without thinking twice, without any kind of withholding, without wondering how I’m being perceived. When I’m truly being and experiencing myself in a moment and feeling that complete freedom is when I feel happy.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ashnamalik.art/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashnamalik/
