In conversation with Sophiya Khwaja

Cade Tompkins Projects
198 Hope Street Providence Rhode Island 02906
www.cadetompkins.com cadetompkins@mac.com
Telephone 401 751 4888
In conversation with Sophiya Khwaja
June 11, 2013
by: Ilona Yusuf
Talking to Sophiya
Khwaja immediately
reminds one that she
trained as a classical
dancer. This fluidity
of motion, evident in
her
physical
m o v e m e n t s ,
characterises
the
early compositions
from her years at
NCA and at the
Rhode Island School
of Design, where she
mastered
in
printmaking as a
Fulbright scholar.
Sneaky, sneaky 2010, drypoint, gouache, chine collé: 15 x 20 inches, edition of 4
Sophiya’s
early
work, from the thesis
work done at NCA through to the end of her time at Rhode Island, is defined by flowing figures,
lines and stitching. Many of the themes are almost idealistic, and the lines as well as the figures
are connected to one another. In retrospect, she remarks, “Two years ago, I had a lot of time and I
would spend it sketching. Myself, other people, individual features, or different body parts which
I would then join together. While I was sketching I wasn’t thinking of a setting or a composition
but of a form. In one of the prints that depicts a mushroom cloud I was thinking of war, of
bombs, and so on.” Bodies, small and large, cling to one another, fall away from each other,
hands reach out to grasp each other, all of them linked in some way. “I relate
Cade Tompkins Projects
198 Hope Street Providence Rhode Island 02906
www.cadetompkins.com cadetompkins@mac.com
Telephone 401 751 4888
this concept to the idea that as a classical dancer, one tries to depict time or animals or
expressions through gestures, using one’s own form and movements without any props: like
fitting figures into a form, so that the figures themselves make the form.”
Working in New York, Sophiya had the opportunity and the space to work with a large format, so
that the prints dating from this period are very large, over two by four feet each. “I made about
four plates per year, and I did experiments with them that I hadn’t done previously. For instance,
I’d leave the plate lying on the floor and allow people to walk over it, or I would hammer it.
Then I would erase that and begin all over again, building layer on layer. The wonderful thing
about copperplate etching is that even when one erases and begins again, a little bit of the
previous work remains, like a memory, and this gives depth and texture to the work.”
Copperplate etching is a process which she approached with trepidation. Having worked with
zinc plates at NCA, as copperplate etching is not taught locally, she was unfamiliar with the
process and shied away from it. “When I arrived, I had to submit my assignments within one
month and was afraid to learn a new process. But during a month-long break I had time to
experiment. And after that I never looked back.” Asked about the difference between the two, she
says, “It’s like that between a match and a zippo lighter. Zinc is treated with nitric acid and
leaves harsh jagged edges, and the plate itself has its own tone; whereas copper plate gives you
seven, eight and even nine tones of plate. And if you are using aquatint or sugar lift you can get
great effects.” In layman’s terms, this means that the resulting print has great depth and
variations in shade.
It was during this period that the great South Asia quake took place, inspiring Sophiya to make a
book recording the event, which began when, online with her fiancé, he suddenly typed in to tell
her that a massive quake was going on. The prints, on black paper in off white to yellow tones,
incorporate email messages and typing. The effect is almost seismic, with the yellow almost
scribbled sun, and severed lines and figures giving the impression of a world that has been
upended and is no longer defined by the laws of gravity. Although the book doesn’t quite meet
the rules of book binding or making, the prints themselves are arresting. This is currently on
display at the National Gallery as part of an exhibition called Beyond the Frame, featuring the
work of young artists from various art institutions.
Returning to Pakistan, she married and settled in Karachi, where the reality of daily life in
Pakistan struck home fast. “I had to deal with things that I never knew about before. Bills,
handling money, getting a job, social obligations, and then the stresses of water and electricity
shortages and being robbed.” This last, a traumatic incident in which the robbers made the artist
cook dinner while they divested the newlyweds of their valuables, incited the couple to return to
Islamabad, where Sophiya began to teach at NCA. “Driving forty minutes each way every day, I
would roll down my window and see the little patch of sky with the sun that appeared almost in
eclipse through the smog, hear the noises of the city: honking, angry comments…you hear
someone shouting at you and even if you don’t want to hear you can’t help it, and you realise
Cade Tompkins Projects
198 Hope Street Providence Rhode Island 02906
www.cadetompkins.com cadetompkins@mac.com
Telephone 401 751 4888
that even the last little piece of people’s hope is fading away. On a hot night if you went out you
would feel the heat and see the lights of the city.”
These experiences have taken the idealistic quality out of her work and given it an edgy, raw
feeling. Also, a new depth. The still figurative work is full of angles and stresses, hemmed in by
squares, cubes and rectangles. Women gesticulate at one another, bounce off circles or, placed
inside them, fall through the ever present city grid. The Destruction of Advancement is
particularly telling of the local psyche: while the figure at the bottom right blows blue bubbles,
the one at the top right angrily hammers a screw into those that have floated up. In most of the
works, people appear to have no control over their surroundings, but instead are trapped, angry
beings.
With no press on which to make her prints, the artist turned to mixed media, and has found it
exciting and full of challenges. “Whereas in my old work I would fit the figures into a form, in
my new work I concentrate on setting them in a context. It takes me hours to work out the grid
pattern, which represents the city, measuring it into one inch squares. The squares are extendable
only by quarter, half or three quarter inch increments, to give it harmony. You can’t have
irregular variations. In grad school, I did an experimental litho with squares with rounded corners
which looked like a city skyline, and this was the starting point for the new work.”
“I knew printmaking has its limitations, and in this series, besides wanting to be technically
perfect, I discovered that I could go crazy, adding relief and sculptural elements by building up
layers of paper, and using newspaper clippings and photo transfers. Each element is integral to
the design and the message; for instance, the clippings say something about daily life. The
placement of colours is something which is not easily attainable in printmaking, and I use it here
with calculated economy. The circle, which is a continuous form throughout my work, and which
I consider the most versatile shape, has several connotations: here it represents how everyone
lives in their own bubble.” I remark that it also appears like a vortex in some of the collages, and
ask her which printmakers she finds inspiring. I expect to hear names from modern art, but she
mentions William Blake, saying, “The structure of some of my compositions is inspired by his
engravings. Also, he uses complicated names which are relevant to the text but not stand alone.
Dreaming About Electricity in the Third World takes its structural inspiration from his Whirlwind
of Lovers, while Vacuum Away the Dust is inspired by The Ancient of Days.” This latter was one
of the last prints made before her return to Pakistan and was the turning point for the change in
her approach to work. Perched on a chair, her head connected to the pipe of a vacuum cleaner,
the subject peers downwards at a host of characters that are being sucked into it. Commenting on
the predominance of the female figure in her work, Sophie says that there is no statement in the
fact that she always uses the female figure; it is just that she is more familiar and comfortable
with it.
Having completed the eighteen pieces to be shown at the Museum of Art in North Dakota,
Sophiya feels that her work is now likely to change, and in her future work her concentration on
the figure may diminish or disappear altogether.
Cade Tompkins Projects
198 Hope Street Providence Rhode Island 02906
www.cadetompkins.com cadetompkins@mac.com
Telephone 401 751 4888
Encouraged to draw and paint by her mother, who is a talented photographer, Sophiya grew up
with the idea of the importance of having a career, ideas instilled by her grandmothers, both of
whom were professional women, and by her mother, who despite being a housewife realised the
necessity of having a job. Both her parents were instrumental in encouraging her throughout her
formative years to do what she most enjoyed, which included classical dance, and when she
applied to art college they suggested that she should do fine arts. Sophiya, however, applied to
study architecture at the NCA, with the assumption that fine art would never bring her money or
a proper career, but she soon realised that the subject “bored me beyond belief. There would be
endless discussions about the dimensions of a brick, or the measurement of a door jamb, and it
all went completely over my head”. Fortunately, since the course at NCA is broken up into
month long blocks, and the initial two years are a foundation course in which one is introduced
to all the disciplines, she quickly understood that fine art, with its emphasis on drawing skills,
was her forte. But she was not keen to be a printmaker, and “when the time for the printmaking
segment approached, I constantly complained to my mother about how boring it would be.” Her
mother’s reply was, “Give it a chance, you might even decide to specialise in it. And my reply
was ‘never!’ Part of the reason for my complaints was that I felt that many of the students on the
previous printmaking course seemed to be using the medium as a crutch to conceal a lack of
major talent.” But once she was on the course, she was told by her teacher Anwar Saeed, who
conducted her second year jury, and for whom she has great respect, that she should take up
printmaking as her major. Taking this advice, she added a double minor in miniature painting,
which, like printmaking, is very technique based. In hindsight, she says, she thoroughly enjoyed
this period, because of the quality of the teaching faculty and because her closest friends were on
the same course.
Her next educational experience was at the Rhode Island School of Design, where, she says,
“Everything was available, in the way of faculty, materials, studio space, and time, and I was
plain-sailing. I was idealistic, philosophical and passionate about printmaking. I tend not to talk
so much about NCA, partly because when I was there I realised my vocation much later in the
programme. In a way, it was the foundation for things to come, whereas when I arrived in New
York I was already certain about what I wanted to do.”
Currently an Assistant Professor at NCA in Rawalpindi, where she describes the atmosphere as
charged and vibrant, with an enthusiastic faculty, the artist enjoys the interaction with her
students, and is also involved with helping others amongst the growing artist community in the
capital with work in mediums, such as printmaking, with which they are not familiar. As many a
teacher has said, one not only teaches but also learns from one’s students.
Her series of mixed media work, some of which is shown here and will be exhibited at Nomad
Gallery at the end of the year, will be on display at the Museum of North Dakota from May.
Museum exhibitions in the US are awarded to artists of standing or exceptional talent, and
although the work at such venues is not for sale, the resulting exposure and prestige are highly
esteemed.