Nadiya Jinnah is a third-culture citizen. Her parents, both of whom are of Indian descent, have diverse international backgrounds. Nadiya was born in Uganda, East Africa, where she spent her childhood and adolescent years. Later, she moved to London where she studied art before relocating to New York City where has been living for many years now. This blend of East and West backgrounds has created what the artist describes as “a rich culmination of cultures which has become a force of artistic inspiration.”

 

Nadiya explores these vast experiences in an artistic process that can be described as an introspective journey. She begins her process by exploring her inner landscape – a very personal place – and extends out to the external landscape. Her paintings are therefore called “Lifescapes.” They are always changing as they are cast and go through a series of rituals. Each painting starts on a clay surface, as a three-dimensional drawing which becomes a negative mold. The impression is then transferred into an acrylic canvas, which is painted with oil colors. This intricate and meticulous process affords her an infinite variety of textures and depths in order to capture the feeling of an organic landscape-rocky surface, heather on the fields, or an ocean floor.

 

Her work has been featured in numerous exhibitions worldwide including those at the Contemporary Istanbul Art Fair in Turkey, the Florence Biennale in Italy, the World Trade Center, Osaka Matsuzakaya Gallery, in Japan, and Estense Castle, Ferrara, Italy, to name a few. Her work is also in many private, corporate and public collections including the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, AT&T Conference Center, and Heublein Inc., among others.