Zarina Hashmi Google Doodle honours Indo-American artist Zarina Hashmi on her....

Zarina Hashmi

Zarina Hashmi, an influential Indian American artist, is being honored today on her birthday through a Google Doodle. She was known for her remarkable sculptures, prints, and drawings that aligned with the Minimalist movement. Born in Aligarh, India, in 1937, Zarina's life was greatly impacted by the partition of India, which led her and her family to relocate to Karachi in Pakistan. Through her marriage to a diplomat, she had the opportunity to travel to Bangkok, Paris, and Japan, where she delved into the realms of printmaking and immersed herself in modernist and abstract art influences.

In 1977, Zarina made a significant move to New York City, where she became a passionate advocate for women and female artists of color. She joined the Heresies Collective, a feminist journal, and took on a professorial role at the New York Feminist Art Institute. Her contributions to co-curating the exhibition "Dialectics of Isolation: An Exhibition of Third World Women Artists of the United States" showcased the artistic voices of marginalized women artists. Throughout her career, Zarina gained recognition for her captivating intaglio and woodcut prints that depicted the houses and cities she had lived in.

Zarina's identity as an Indian woman, born into the Muslim faith, along with her experiences of constant movement, greatly influenced her art. Her works often featured visual elements inspired by Islamic religious decorations, characterized by precise geometrical patterns. Her early artistic works have drawn comparisons to renowned minimalists like Sol LeWitt. Zarina Hashmi's art continues to captivate audiences worldwide and is showcased in prestigious institutions such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others.