She loves colours and paints love with her colours. Love for a city she travelled to in search of the early life of her late father, wanting to trace memories of his growing up everywhere in the city. She found her dad’s childhood there, in the city of Lahore and found a connection of soul with the old city of Pakistan therein. Her paintings reflect and integrate that love in its various shades. BTW speaks to Thajba Najeeb, a young and talented artist as she journeys through various stages of soul searching and self-realization around Lahore and Bahrain.
Tell us briefly about yourself: where you were born and raised, your educational background, etc.
I was born and raised in Bahrain. I am a Bachelors of fine arts, Interior design. My education is also sprinkled with endless hours of YouTube tutorials, help and workshops with artists, photographers, designers and any creative soul who has the desire to teach me.
Were you initiated into arts and painting during your childhood?
I grew up in a household where culture, arts and literature were evident. My parents dedicated their time to promoting all types of artists from performance to literary. They were selfless and solely wanted to promote art for the sake of art. This was the spark.
Tell us briefly about the kind of arts that you pursue. Who has been your inspiration?
At this moment, my art has moved into a concept of repetition- creating excitement from a repeated stroke, pattern or shape; almost like a heartbeat. So I have moved on to creating rhythmic works that serve as a visual connection between my two backbones, Lahore and Bahrain.
My inspirations are artists from Pakistan, Germany, Austria, poets, books, literature, song and verse and a whole load of memories of moments.
Tell us about the significance of art in your life.
I teach, study, do, work with, and collaborate with artist who do, create, explore, discover and love ART. The significance is endless. It is my passion, my release, my work and my expression.
What have been the major challenges in your path so far?
As an artist, my major challenge has been establishing myself. The financial is never stable—some months are good with a whole load of digits and others are just a zero. Finding a career that would support the art was the hardest decision—as an interior designer—creativity was killed in me-.As a co-entrepreneur at Artology with my sister, Reem Najeeb, our biggest challenge is competition—the new studio that opens next door—cleaner, bigger and shiny. Our greatest reassurance is that we are unique.
Do you feel that a formal training is essential to pursue arts?
I think training in arts can be formal or informal; solely because you can’t learn if you have no desire to achieve. The drive for expression through any type of arts has to be very personal and then the basics learnt whether in an institution or from the masters around you is what fine-tunes your skill. At Artology, Reem has a bachelors in finance but is very inclined towards art- some skills she has superseded mine and I learn from her. I have bachelors in fine arts but fall short with mediums she is comfortable with. The perfect balance between the self taught vs. the taught.
Tell us about the art classes that you offer.
Kids classes, all art classes, teens, preteens, GCSE, Alevel, IB, Portfolio management and art for adults, de-stress classes- to top it off, we host workshops with visiting artists and talks.
What kind of help and support do you seek to help reach your goal?
At Artology, we are seeking financial help at this moment to help grow and create an art hub under our umbrella where collaborations happen between all artists disregarding seniority and fame. Artology needs help to create this platform where all expression is acceptable and student exchange programs happen with other universities and studios. We look for support from our creative souls of Bahrain.
Have you participated/held exhibitions in Bahrain or in any other place? Give us a list of the last few.
-Pakistan embassy event- 2016
-Harbor Tower Mall- Bahrain – 2016
-Capital Club- Bahrain 2014
-Artist Colony Commune- Karachi Pakistan 2015
-Soon to be exhibiting in November 2016 in Karachi and Lahore, Pakistan
What is your message to the aspiring artists of Bahrain?
Look to be self-aware and dissolve that line that separates work from passion— success can only be achieved when these two merge.