Zina Al-Shukri
I am stricken with the constant anxiety of temporality, and am left to remind myself that individuals are ephemeral, yet the existence of people remains constant. Especially now, there are no areas devoid of sociality. Everything a person expresses is reactionary or responsive to the happenings surrounding them. These reactions and responses are often contributed by another body. The exterior life of the subject creates the interior qualities and vice versa. The people in my work are a representation of this interior/exterior relationship. These figures are generally exaggerated and altered to heighten their expressive and emotive qualities in order to explore personal and cultural experiences. I am particularly interested in others sociocultural experiences being that I come from accumulated cultures. I see myself in the people I like to look at.
Observing people is a practice that has fascinated me since childhood. As an immigrant child displaced from Iraq and freshly immersed into a new culture, I was naturally curious about the people around me and often trying to find ways to relate. Sharing interests and conversations, mimicry, playing games were all my early methods of interaction. And we were always moving. Every few years my family and I would relocate and acclimate ourselves to our new surroundings. This was not the easiest task considering we were an Arab-Muslim family trying to fit into a predominantly Southern-Christian environment. Nevertheless, I made friends, and that’s who I paint. I paint my friends exactly with the same curiosity I had as a child trying to fit in. Through shared conversations, mimicry and the naturally evolved intellectual play.
I see and relate to myself when making other peoples’ portraits, while simultaneously providing a way for the sitters to relate to themselves and to me. These paintings are an exploration of genuine interactions happening in real life over extended periods of actual time. As I develop the image, the subject is invited to watch and respond to my progress hence a feedback loop occurs between us. Their image unfolds before them. This creates a vulnerable and enchanting state for the sitter and often is a difficult place to be. My art practice is shaped by a full collaboration between the sitter and myself to create a tangible, intimate and visceral experience.