On her 86th birthday, Google recently acknowledged the well-known Indian-American printmaker and artist Zarina Hashmi with a mesmerizing doodle. The doodle was created by New York-based guest artist Tara Anand as a tribute to Hashmi’s distinctive style, which used geometric and minimalist abstract forms to explore ideas like home, displacement, borders, and memory.
On this day in 1937, Hashmi, who is regarded as one of the most significant artists connected to the minimalist movement, was born in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India. Up until the partition of India in 1947, she lived in beautiful circumstances with her four siblings. Zarina’s family was forced to emigrate to Karachi, a brand-new Pakistani city, as a result of the split.
At the age of 21, Hashmi wed a young diplomat in the diplomatic service, starting a journey that would take her around the world. She visited Bangkok, Paris, and Japan and immersed herself in the printmaking industry as well as modern and abstract art movements.
Hashmi moved to the exciting metropolis of New York in 1977, when she became a zealous supporter of artists of color and women’s rights. She joined the Heresies Collective, a feminist periodical that investigated the complex nexus between politics, art, and social justice.
Hashmi started teaching at the New York Feminist Art Institute as part of her ongoing dedication to feminism and artistic education, giving female artists a place to succeed. “Dialectics of Isolation: An Exhibition of Third World Women Artists of the United States” was a significant exhibition that she co-curated at A.I.R. Gallery in 1980. This historic occasion not only featured a wide range of artists but also provided a platform for female artists of colour to openly express themselves.
Hashmi’s artistic practice focused on intaglio and woodcut prints, expertly fusing semi-abstract representations of the homes and cities she has lived in. Her artwork frequently contained Urdu inscriptions and Islamic art-inspired geometric features.
The legacy of Zarina Hashmi is still captivating and inspiring worldwide reflection. Her works are included in prestigious museums’ permanent collections, including those at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, to mention a few.
The Google doodle for today is proof of Zarina Hashmi’s contributions to the art world’s enduring influence. Doodles, brief updates to the Google logo that appear on its homepages, have evolved into a way for the internet giant to honor and commemorate important occasions and historical personalities.
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