Aisha Naim
AN: I am Aisha and I am a visual artist. I specialise in miniature Mughal miniature painting and I had
my degree in visual fine arts, but I specialised while I was studying. And then after that, I did 2 years
apprenticeship with a very famous miniature painter and …
INT: Thanks, em, can you tell us about your connection to Rosetta and how you got started?
AN: When I first came to this country in 2006 I was an aspiring artist and being in one of the
authentic creative hubs, and I had high hopes to continue my career as I was a very active painter in
Pakistan. I literally participated in every exhibition and when I came here it was slightly difficult for
me in the beginning to find a proper place to continue my career basically. I went to Slade School of
Art; I went to Chelsea School of Art and Slade School of Art said you don’t need any degree because
you should just practice; there is nothing to learn and you can just practice. But I did my summer
school there and artists over there, teachers, they said just practice. And then just as I was about to
give up on my passion, then I found an arts centre in Stratford. One of my friends, she came here for
photography classes and she introduced me. She said there is an arts centre and you should apply
there. Then Stratford took a chance and I came to Rosetta who allowed me to practice my art skills
and gave me so many opportunities in areas, and trusted me in areas I had little experience in such
as teaching, drawing and painting, middle eastern art. Then I did mindful art workshops, then a lot
of, a lot of projects. It’s been like seven years eh, connecting with Rosetta, and since then, recently
we did Green Street art decor project and it went very well. We decorated Green Street, High Street
and other areas and that&’s it.
INT: Em, do you have a connection with Newham?
AN: A connection in so terms as I deliver workshops in public libraries. Street project as well
delivering my art skills with Rosetta obviously, em, so many places, like I can’t even remember, like
Stratford, I can’t even remember the project names, but like delivering workshops in Green Street,
Stratford libraries in terms of connecting with Newham.
INT: Have you noticed any changes locally?
AN: I think there is a massive change. I notice that people like participating in public art projects.
Compared to when I started, I noticed that many people don’t wanna participate or they don’t
wanna come and if you tell them like this is an art project, they hesitate. Now people come to us and
they want to participate. They like doing stuff, even though they have no previous experience and
they have no such skills, they still wanted to try so I think it’s a good change.
INT: Is there anything you would like to see in the future?
AN: So, in terms of like, em, coming things together, people liked staying at home, nowadays, there
are always like good things and bad things. Learning online you cannot socialise with other people
working in a studio is like motivational, it always plays a major role as you get inspiration from other
people. While Learning online you get distracted very easily. I just want people to come and
participate more in studio projects.
