The Shining and Other Stories: Images in Fiza Khatri’s Paintings

Fiza Khatri, an artist from Karachi, Pakistan, currently pursuing an MFA (Painting) from Yale University, debuted her first solo show at Jhaveri Contemporary recently. Having previewed in London, her exhibition—Sailoon and Other Stories—is available to view online on the gallery’s website. Khatri’s paintings—as portraits of the artist’s life—weave in elements of her experiences with queerness in everyday activities and communities. Plants, animals, barber shops and bathroom sinks adopt roles of caretaking, intimacy and nurturing as they depict the artist’s safe spaces that allow her to situate her body in various situations safely and affirmatively.

In this video interview, Khatri narrates her experiments with appearances and haircuts to understand different ways of navigating access to spaces around her. The artist addresses the role of photography in her work by questioning the role of the image as a site of social and personal memory. The complex relationship between paintings and photographs—in the way they borrow from each other in her work—is layered with moments of fiction and storytelling. Khatri speaks about how the images that she takes of these places seep into her paintings, along with added details and narratives for both the artist and her audience.

^{(Featured Image: Shining. 2020. Oil on Canvas. 91.5 x 122 centimeters.)}

Interview taken on 01 July 2021. All images featured in the video are from Sailoon and Other Stories by Fiza Khatri. 2017–Ongoing. Images courtesy of the artist and Jhaveri Contemporary.