ARTIST STATEMENT
The urge to inscribe and then to replicate defines the history of literary production and dissemination across the world for many centuries now. Books are proof of our existence in this world at a certain point in time and they mirror our inner selves. The Scribed series postures the artist as scribe and draws parallels between drawing and writing, making the line a universal mode of expression. Lines and patterns replace words and images and create a language of their own. The rhythm of mark-making, the graceful or staccato line, the pattern inherent in repetition and the texture of the substrate, all work together to form a distinctive expression in each work. Palm leaves have been used as book pages for centuries in South Asia. By including the engraved leaves as artwork, I bring into dialogue the print and the matrix and question the mirror image and the relationship between the two.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Nirmal Raja is an interdisciplinary artist living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She had lived in India, South Korea and Hong Kong before immigrating to the United States thirty years ago. She holds a BA in English Literature from St. Francis College in Hyderabad, India; a BFA from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. She has participated in solo and group shows in the Midwest, nationally and internationally. She is the recipient of several awards including “Graduate of The Decade” from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Raja received the Mary L. Nohl Fellowship for individual artists for the year 2020-21. She collaborates with other artists and strongly believes in investing energy into her immediate community while also considering the global. She curates exhibitions that bring people from different cultures and backgrounds together. She was a mentor at RedLine Milwaukee, a community arts incubator for six years, and is now a mentor for the Milwaukee Artists Resource Network.
© Nirmal Raja