Today we’d like to introduce you to Nuveen Barwari.
Nuveen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I was born in Nashville, TN and moved to Southern Kurdistan when I was in the 6th grade. I lived there between 2008 – 2014. These years were very crucial to my growth as an artist. My first real exposure to fine arts was when I was in the 8th grade. We went on a field trip to the Fine Arts Institute in Duhok. I remember walking through their studios, and looking at all the murals on campus and just thinking to myself, “Oh my god, you can actually go to school for art… this is amazing!” I was in love. I moved back to the US my senior year of highschool, which was also very scary because by the time I was getting comfortable and adapted to the culture in Kurdistan, I had to readjust back to the culture and society in the US.
In order to make sense of this duality, this living between different cultures, languages and places, I always felt the need to express it. That’s just how I process things by making. I finally ended up in art school at Tennessee State University. Through art, I no longer had to live between different languages, cultures, and places. I was able to create new languages, cultures, and places. Since then, I have started my own online shop called Fufu Creations, which supplies art and apparel internationally and was also featured in Kurdistan’s very first fashion week in 2018! I started a podcast called the Newave with my best friend Pael Abdullah, who I actually met when we were in school together in Duhok! I am currently an MFA 2022 candidate at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I find myself always having to answer questions like, “but like what do you? How do you survive? Why don’t you get a real job?” As if one can’t sustain themselves off of a creative career path/life. I don’t blame them though. For years these stereotypes of the “starving artist” have been ingrained in their heads. I work in so many different modes. I have my online shop Fufu Creations that allows me to make apparel that is accessible and that feeds into my fine arts practice and vice versa. I work with manipulating fabrics and Kurdish dresses that feed into my online shop. If you love something, you will make it work no matter how hard it gets!
Representation is so important to me! Lack of representation is something that Kurds have struggled with for centuries. Depiction and interpretations of Kurdish culture in my apparel and artistic practice is an act of protest! The Kurdish language, clothes, culture, and basic identity has a long history of censorship and oppression in regions like Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Iran and some are still struggling with this today! This is something that makes me want to push harder. I want to occupy as many spaces as possible. The galleries, the museums, the podcasts, the fashion and so much more! When you want to serve a community, the question I ask yourself is, “what is this community lacking and how can I be at service?”
Language is also something I struggle with a lot. (I have been taking a very long time to respond to this interview) I feel like I have never fully committed to the English language or the Kurdish language which is why I have found so much peace in the visual arts. I rely heavily on my materials to do the talking for me so this is all really hard for me.
Tell us about your work – what should we know?
Community is just as important to me as the art itself. My art wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for my community. I come from a very vibrant Kurdish community in Nashville, TN and it is the largest Kurdish population in the United States! I get a lot of my fabrics and rugs from the community!
I employ collage to reflect on the fragmented state of diasporic life. I work with a wide assortment of material, both discarded items, trash, rugs, and family fabrics. I recycle them to capture the history and create new histories. I don’t restrict myself to just one medium. It all starts with an idea, concept, or a message, and I as the artist will look at the best way to express it. Sometimes the politically charged art I create cannot exist on the walls of galleries alone… it needs to be worn, it needs to confront different people, in different spaces to spark conversations about peace, protection, and social justice. Or it needs to be talked about on the podcast with other people!
The installation has become more and more important to me! Sometimes putting an object on the wall is simply not enough, sometimes creating a space for the object (or myself) to exist in comes out of necessity when you don’t have a country.
Is there a characteristic or quality that you feel is essential to success?
PASSION. If you are passionate about the work that you do, you will always be successful. It is also very important to acknowledge that one’s definition of success may be very different from the others.
Contact Info:
- Website: fufucreations.com
- Email: bnuveen@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nuveenbarwari/?hl=en
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/NuveenBarwari
- Other: https://artcld.com/artist/nuveen-barwari
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
