Yosra (b.1987) started drawing from a young age while growing up in Tehran. After completing her studies at the American University of Beirut, she attended the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, and later earned her master's degree in Museum Studies from Harvard University. Yosra is currently based in Dubai and also runs her podcast Tavān Studio In Conversation.
I look at my subjects as moving still lifes. Nothing is stagnant. Everything is moving. Deterioration happens on a cellular level, including even us. This passage of time is an inevitable phenomenon. There's anticipation, wonder, and an anxiety in waiting. My work takes a devotional and faith-based approach. We constantly reach a point where we know that we lack a certain amount of perceived control. This is when we have to acknowledge a higher element and power. Sometimes it takes a more prominent presence, and I incorporate inspiration from Islamic art, and sacred geometry as this speaks to my practice's unknown and faith-based dimension.
I like to experiment with texture to enhance this feeling of movement and change further. When I draw, I approach the work as still life, but then as I proceed, the drawing itself dictates how it wants to move, and I follow suit. I use the background as a platform for exploring textures. My work is layered, creating the composition in parts. I often place the fruit in random locations on the paper and create a background around these objects. This balance of foreground and background exchange is the most exciting moment when creating my composition. I often start with a sketch and the fruit or vegetable I wish to draw based on the real-life object that I bring to the studio. But once the objects are on the paper, the placement, how it flows, and the textures that are experimented with happens organically and intuitively, making the process itself more exciting for me to experience. I use a variety of mediums, including colored pencils, pastels, charcoals and acrylic paint. Using this layering process is symbolic of how we can constantly change.
While many still lifes are rooted in philosophical ideas of memento mori, where the focus is on the signs of death's rapid approach, my perspective is not geared towards the finality of death but rather in the time in between. I want to highlight how fruits and perishables are a great indicator of portraying the optimal time prior to fatality. My focus and contemplation are on that sweet spot when the fruit reaches that ideal moment when they are their most ripe and precious. This reflects how we need to live in the present. At our stillest moments, time is passing, we are moving, and there will be an end. Our existence is ephemeral.
Yosra (b.1987) started drawing from a young age while growing up in Tehran. After completing her studies at the American University of Beirut, she attended the Angel Academy of Art in Florence, Italy, and later earned her master's degree in Museum Studies from Harvard University. Yosra is currently based in Dubai and also runs her podcast Tavān Studio In Conversation.
I look at my subjects as moving still lifes. Nothing is stagnant. Everything is moving. Deterioration happens on a cellular level, including even us. This passage of time is an inevitable phenomenon. There's anticipation, wonder, and an anxiety in waiting. My work takes a devotional and faith-based approach. We constantly reach a point where we know that we lack a certain amount of perceived control. This is when we have to acknowledge a higher element and power. Sometimes it takes a more prominent presence, and I incorporate inspiration from Islamic art, and sacred geometry as this speaks to my practice's unknown and faith-based dimension.
I like to experiment with texture to enhance this feeling of movement and change further. When I draw, I approach the work as still life, but then as I proceed, the drawing itself dictates how it wants to move, and I follow suit. I use the background as a platform for exploring textures. My work is layered, creating the composition in parts. I often place the fruit in random locations on the paper and create a background around these objects. This balance of foreground and background exchange is the most exciting moment when creating my composition. I often start with a sketch and the fruit or vegetable I wish to draw based on the real-life object that I bring to the studio. But once the objects are on the paper, the placement, how it flows, and the textures that are experimented with happens organically and intuitively, making the process itself more exciting for me to experience. I use a variety of mediums, including colored pencils, pastels, charcoals and acrylic paint. Using this layering process is symbolic of how we can constantly change.
While many still lifes are rooted in philosophical ideas of memento mori, where the focus is on the signs of death's rapid approach, my perspective is not geared towards the finality of death but rather in the time in between. I want to highlight how fruits and perishables are a great indicator of portraying the optimal time prior to fatality. My focus and contemplation are on that sweet spot when the fruit reaches that ideal moment when they are their most ripe and precious. This reflects how we need to live in the present. At our stillest moments, time is passing, we are moving, and there will be an end. Our existence is ephemeral.