Farhana Hussain

I have been painting seriously since I was 6 years old. What I taught myself to do with watercolors got me into Memphis College of Art. There I studied drawing with Fred Burton, and paper making with Dolph Smith. Making my own paper led me to incorporate its textures into my own color palette – my work is entirely original. My style is in the tradition of Mogul Miniatures. This centuries-old technique was used by the artists of the Mogul courts to combine in painting and poem, their rich and treasured history. With research I developed my own technique to replicate the color of gold that Mogul Miniatures originally achieved with 24-karat gold. My technique has since evolved to incorporate other metallics. My Mogul Miniatures are also enriched by the influences of the Pre-Raphaelite artists, the Arts and Crafts movements, and the Art Deco period.

My present technique is inspired from Mughal paintings and was passed down to me verbally by my grandfather, who was himself a Mughal artist and painted with real gold paint which he made from gold dust. I have been a life long drawing and watercolor artist on traditional watercolor paper. Having learned how to make handmade paper at college, the process of which helped me understand how to paint on it, it has become my new canvas along with the traditional watercolor papers. My subject matter develops through imagination as well as sketches of things around me and thus I work in a variety of imagery. I have added western images to my work while retaining the pattern qualities I carry with me and have thus found new paths of expression along with my traditional images. Since the last twenty plus years of living in the USA, I graduated with a BFA and have been working as a full time artist. I hope to keep the Mughal painting technique alive through my developing subject matter while maintaining references to its roots.