Painting for more than a decade, Amira Farooq is gradually evolving her visuals, which are getting richer in colour and emotional content. A visual artist, model and holistic healer, she is a multidimensional personality gifted with a kind heart and keen observation to analyse the social fabric she is living in.

She remembers her first attempt to draw a figure on the wall.

“Unconsciously inspired by a nude painting generously gifted to my parents by Colin David, I made my first attempt to draw. I was scolded for damaging the wall surface but provided with drawing copy to scribble on,” she recalls in a lighter vein.

“I was born during the Zia regime, grew up watching a suppressed society where people had freedom only within their houses. The social norm was to hide the original character and make a public persona. Art was not encouraged, it was considered crazy despite the fact that my mother was an NCA alumna, a product designer.

“My parents wanted me to study science but I decided to opt for fine arts and paved the way on my own to join the National College of Arts (NCA) to major in print making.”

However, favouritism and politics at college shattered all romantic concepts of Amira about making art. She realised soon that to keep her passion for art alive she had to stay away from all the groupings. In her own words, she didn’t need any approval from established artists.

“After finishing studies, I worked on few projects but the employer’s attitude regarding pay for the artworks was discouraging. I moved to fashion industry, working as model and TV host, which proved filthier than the art world. In 2006, I decided to focus only on painting and working as a whole-time artist.”

Except for few intervals, she is working regularly with a couple of solo shows in Lahore and a good number of group shows in Pakistan and abroad to her credit. Some years back, she ventured into holistic healing, helping people with counseling and treating them by changing their thinking patterns and food from processed to raw and organic.

“I was wrongly diagnosed with bipolar disorder. The impact of high potency banned bipolar medicines was a traumatic. I put on a lot of weight and emotional stress. I realised that chemicals can´t treat me, so cut them off, switched to organic food and asked God for help. After intensive research on holistic healing and impact of food on human mind and body, I healed myself and decided to help others.”

Though there is a price tag attached to the healing services but she has not charged anything from any patient so far. She enjoys it like making art, the human body appears to her like a sculpture she is working on.

Except for rarely found traces of human anatomy most of Amira’s works are abstract and seems spontaneous in nature.

Flowing lines moving freely and making variety of interconnected shapes are the major element in Amira’s visuals. She is confident enough to work with rich palette and plays with sharp and radiant colours, resulting in strong and bold visual statements.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2018