Google Doodle Celebrates 86th Birthday of Indian-American Artist Zarina Hashmi
Zarina Hashmi was born on July 16, 1937, in Aligarh, India. She grew up in a Muslim family and was educated at the Aligarh Muslim University. In 1947, the partition of India forced her family to flee to Karachi, Pakistan. This traumatic experience had a profound impact on Hashmi's life and work.
In 1962, Hashmi moved to New York City, where she studied printmaking at the Pratt Institute. She soon became involved in the city's vibrant art scene, and her work was exhibited in galleries and museums around the world.
Hashmi's work is characterized by its use of minimalist forms and geometric shapes. She often uses repetition and layering to create a sense of rhythm and movement in her work. Her images are often abstract, but they can also be seen as representing houses, cities, and other familiar objects.
The themes of home, displacement, borders, journey, and memory are recurring in Hashmi's work. These themes are often explored through the use of symbols and metaphors. For example, in her 1975 work "The Wall," Hashmi uses a series of geometric shapes to represent the barriers that divide people and cultures.
Hashmi's work has been praised for its beauty, its power, and its ability to evoke a sense of nostalgia and loss. She is considered one of the most important artists of her generation, and her work has had a significant impact on the development of contemporary art.