10 questions for Nadia Janjua: artist, arch. designer

May 25th, 2009 by Menachem Wecker

According to her website, Nadia Janjua’s art draws from her faith. “One day after prayer, while I was making supplication, I became distracted by my hands, and how multi-colored they were,” she writes, “these were the hands that Allah had given me: dark under the nails, brown on the outside, white on the inside, and a blended line of distinction down the profile of my hand.” I first came across Nadia on Twitter (follow her @njARTitectr), and here is the result of our conversation…

MW: You talk in your bio about artists’ capacity to use their hands to create with Allah’s will. Does this mean you identify as a Muslim artist? What does that term mean to you?

NJ: I identify as an Artist, who happens to be a Muslim, an American, a Pakistani, a Kashmiri. My faith and religion are an indistinct part of everything I do, and I don’t feel I need to categorize myself as a particular type of Artist because of that.

I have a broad interpretation of the term “Muslim Artist,” or “Islamic Artist,” which relates more to my ideas of what exactly “Islamic Art” is. As an initial clarification, “Islamic” cannot be used in the same way as “Christian” in Christian Art, or “Buddhist” in Buddhist Art, for historically it’s always transgressed ethnic and geographical bounds. It was more so about culture, then religion. For me, the term “Muslim Artist” really implies a certain relationship between human and his/her surroundings.

In my statement about artists’ capacity to use their hands to create, “with Allah’s will,” I meant to emphasize the latter part of that statement: “with Allah’s will.” While we are the vessels through which the physical creation of art occurs, I wanted to make the distinction that in my belief, only God can ultimately create, and give us the ability to create inanimate work (inanimate in a biological sense, not spiritual).

MW: There are quotes (I believe from Hadith) about the Prophet condemning artists to the fire. How do you respond to these verses, particularly as an artist who works in a naturalistic mode some of the time?

NJ: Well, there are a few clarifications I’d like to make first. Muslims believe the Prophet Mohamad (peace be upon him) to be a messenger sent to humankind by God, needless to say, similar to Prophet Jesus, Moses, and Joseph (peace by upon them all), for example. The Prophets did not condemn anyone to hellfire; they communicated prohibitions or theological pronouncements to humankind through God’s revelations.

Traditionally, Islamic Art attempts to display Divine beauty by detaching that beauty from this world, basically, from things that figurative art attempts to represent. There is an abstract nature to it and it represent ideas, rather than objects. The Prophet’s prohibition of making images had to do with forbidding the practice in pre-Islamic and early Islamic times of worshiping these images, forms, and idols. In Islam, there is no space for worship of anyone as a partner to God.

Nothing about art has ever been literal or straightforward; it is its inherent nature. At best, I will say Islamic art, or the view of art in Islam, for Muslims, is that it’s neither tangible nor spiritual, it is something in between. It attempts to represent a vision of God’s presence in the world, simultaneous with His incomparability to anything in this world. In essence beauty is always to be connected with the Ultimate One who Created it.

MW: What are some of the challenges associated with being a Muslim artist? Is there a market for Muslim art? I went to an event a while back in Virginia of the National Islamic Arts & Culture Foundation, but that seems to be defunct now. Are there other organizations that bring Muslim artists together?

NJ: The challenges of being an artist, Muslim or not, include being understood, appreciated, and staying motivated to sustain the struggle of self-confidence in your ability, and your work. A particular struggle which I’ve definitely had to deal with on being Muslim, and an artist, has been with family, and working with their attitudes towards the place of art in culture and faith, its legitimacy and it’s value. However, through my own growth as an artist over the past 15 years I see a revival spreading like fire in the minds and attitudes of Muslim communities and societies at large. I feel it’s evidenced not only on a local level, but a more national level in the efforts of large organizations making the space for Art Exhibits, doing features on them in Islamic magazines, inviting Artists to speak to students in Islamic schools, at Mosques, at conferences, at Interfaith events, all of which I’ve been fortunate to take part in. And I can’t think of a single art exhibit I’ve taken part in where my parents or even extended family haven’t attended.

There are actually a few organizations that help facilitate gathering Muslim artists: MWIA (Muslim Women in the Arts), Muslimfest in Mississauga, Canada, ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) Art Exhibit, Al Azizah Magazine, and ASMA (American Society for Muslim Advancement).

On a more local level I’ve often had friends who are patrons of the arts invite a few artists and host an art exhibit in their homes, which tends to bring many people together. One of the times I did that was in Centreville, VA, in 2005, and the attendance was about 300 people over the course of four hours - pretty amazing.

I’ve definitely found a market for art through my exhibits and by word of mouth through friends and family that have my work in their homes, thankfully.

MW: Whom are your favorite people on Twitter who focus on Islamic topics and on art (or both)?

NJ: To be honest, I don’t follow anyone on Twitter, though I do have “followers.” I’m quite intrigued by twitter, unlike everyone else I seem to have spoken to about it. I think it’s such a cool and quirky idea to only be limited to 140 characters in status updates, and to create a narrative about your own day’s events over the course of time, which can then be viewed in a timeline. I do it mostly for myself. Initially I used Twitter to claim one ‘travel fantasy’ or a memory from past travels per day, to allow me to feel closer to my goal of traveling the world, or whatever part I will be so blessed to travel to. The hope for it, and writing a short statement about it is a form of commitment for me, and it keeps me motivated. I also have a few younger cousins on Twitter who I love to keep in touch with on a fairly daily basis through updates. And finally, I have been so moved by the words of strangers, part of me also hopes my words and thoughts inspire another person, as melodramatic yet thoughtful as they can be.

MW: I love your ink drawing “Moti Masjid; India.” Is there a story behind it?

NJ: Thank you! I wish I could say I was there in person sketching, but the story behind it is that I needed to have an ink sketch drawing in my portfolio for applications to Graduate Architecture School, so I found a great color photograph in one of my Islamic Architecture monographs of this interior scene, and I decided to recreate it in ink. It was the first time I used the cross-hatch technique.

MW: Do you approach drawings with religious content (like “Faisal Mosque: Islamabad; Pakistan“) any differently than you do secular content?

NJ: Well, I feel there’s a judgment in the question about “religious” versus “secular,” which is a bit premature; it’s a matter of perspective, wouldn’t you say? To speak in general terms, Muslims don’t make the same distinctions between the religious and the secular, or the sacred and the profane, as is done here in the West. Rather, the belief is that everything is a sign of God, but it takes wisdom and openness to see the signs.

I don’t believe any of my work to be “secular.” Nothing I do is devoid of reflection, spirituality or faith in my opinion. We all have a responsibility to reflect upon and contribute beauty to the world, and what form that takes, is purely unique and personal.

Faisal Mosque in Islamabad is my absolute favorite place to be in Pakistan, besides the mountains, and it’s the only place of refuge I get when staying with such a large extended family during my travels there. I always find myself most reflective in that space, and the architecture is simply exquisite.

In my art I attempt to express anything I feel that is beautiful; whether that turns out to be a sketch of a Mosque space, or a photograph of spices, it all comes from the source for me.

MW: You seem to be interested in Christian content as well (e.g. “Baltimore Cathedral” and “Church on Easter“). To what extent is Christian subject matter important to you?

NJ: I’m interested in any faith and culture really. I didn’t grow up around Muslims or have a Mosque that we would attend since our Muslim community was so small; I mostly grew up around Christians. I have always found the seedbed for spirituality to be in my heart, not in my physical environment, although certainly, particular environments can be more conducive. I have been moved equally by my time in synagogues, churches, and mosques, all three being spaces in which I have prayed. The Prophet Mohamad (peace be upon him) relayed that the whole of earth is a place of prayer. I’ve never limited myself as to where I pray when I need; the other night I was at the Nissan Pavilion in Virginia at a Coldplay concert and as unusual as it was perhaps, I was able to find a space on the lawn tucked away to pray Maghrib (prayer after sunset); there are probably not too many people who could say they’ve prayed at a Coldplay concert .. and it was all yellowww.

On another note, I have always been drawn to church architecture and the “Baltimore Cathedral” sketch was a project for an architectural drawing course. “Church on Easter” was an image from San Jose, Costa Rica; I went during Easter and if you don’t already know, Costa Ricans celebrate Easter for a more than a week. Everything shuts down (including bus transportation) and the churches remain open all day; I was moved by the dramatic scene and the form of devotion in that church.

MW: How did you come to be involved in the design for Al Fatih Academy?

NJ: A dear friend from college was actually a teacher’s assistant there, and Al Fatih Academy was gearing up for an expansion, so my friend got me involved to bring in sustainability and design to the new school. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, the project fell through because of lack of funds, and now the school (pre-K to 8th grade), which was previously divided up classrooms between a house, an office building, and a trailer, is located in a warehouse that’s been converted to a school. I have yet to visit it but other friends who teach there have said good things about it, and have been excited to be in one space together, and the kids seemed to have taken a great liking to it as well.

MW: Who are some of the most important Muslim artists that readers should be aware of?

NJ: I can’t tell you who are the most important, that obviously depends on one’s personal style, but here’s a list of some of the Western Muslim Artists that I keep my eye on:

1. Salma Arastu, painter (site)
2. Huda Totonji, painter (site)
3. Shazia Sikander, 2D visual artist (site)
4. Kim Badawi, photographer (site)
5. Mohamad Zakariyah, calligrapher (site)
6. Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, poet (site)
7. Mohammed Ali, graffiti artist (site)
8. Madny Al Bakry, calligraffiti artist (site)
9. Anum Mallick, painter, photographer (site)
10. Peter Sanders, photographer (site)

MW: Can you really share pictures of all the cups of chai you had during the whole month of October 2004? (see bottom of this page)

NJ: If my computer wouldn’t have been formatted and I wouldn’t have lost my entire hard drive back in ‘05, I could surely have shared 31 pictures, but alas, it has now turned to dust, and I only have those 9 pictures …

I had moved my studio back home instead of in architecture school that semester, so needless to say I spent a lot of time alone in my own space. At the time I was absorbed in inconsistencies about life, realized there was nothing consistent except change, and I wanted to capture it … in my cup of tea that would somehow turn out different each time I made it, even though I used the same method….

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