4 - 12 November 2022

Artist in residence update by Natasha Taheem

Hello! I’m three months into my Artist Development Residency with Shout running from November ‘24 – February ‘25. The key thing I wanted to focus on was finding a way to bring together my queerness, my heritage and my printmaking. Further down the line, I plan to hand print a series of queer bandannas that tell stories of my lived experience as a British Punjabi Lesbian within the patterns & designs. So far I’ve been spending my time learning about printing onto natural fabrics with Studio 312, prototyping and designing my own printing blocks at STEAMhouse, enrolling onto a course at The Royal Drawing School and receiving mentoring from the incredible artist & educator Exodus Crooks.

I have extensive experience as a Printmaker, I previously worked as a silk screen printer at a bottle factory in South Birmingham where I set and ran massive CNC machines. It was a technical job and it payed the bills. During my time at the factory I developed a deep and involved understanding of the screen printing process, it felt like I had become a limb of the printing machines. Being able to spend the time to focus on what direction I wanted to take my visual art practice had previously felt like a luxury that I could not afford.

I had a chat with my mentor Exodus yesterday and they were saying how much I’ve packed into such a short period during my time at Shout, I explained that this residency has been the first time since my Art & Design Foundation (9 years ago) I’ve been able to indulge in creativity and focus solely on my art practice. At no cost was I going to let this opportunity go amiss. The last three months have been a creative explosion. I’ve been waiting so long for a moment that I was unsure would ever come. Now I’ve arrived, it’s been all guns blazing.

Silk, Cotton & Dye at Studio 312

It’s been a delight joining as a visiting artist, working and learning alongside the incredible textile printers at Studio 312 in London. They specialise in screen printing on fabric, it’s their bread and butter. I’ve split my time with them into two chunks so I have space to absorb all of the information they are throwing my way.

During my last visit we looked at printing on to cotton and silk, I learned about printing with paint, dye and discharge and also the basics of pinning and prepping fabric for printing. During my next visit I’ll be taking my wood blocks with me me to trial using their in house paints and dyes so we can have a play together and see which work best for wood block printing.

Prototyping Printing Blocks at STEAMhouse

I had heard of STEAMhouse but I don’t think I fully understood what it is until I went for my general induction to their workshop space. It’s a playground of tech and resource, they offer production and prototyping services for technologists, artists, designers, scientists and innovators. So far I’ve had my general induction, wood work induction and a 1:1 session where I went through my project and how I intend to use the space. I want to explore ways to utilise the technology they have to cut or carve wooden printing blocks with my own designs on. Over the course of my next few visits I’m going to have a go at using the laser cutting machine, and another machine that engraves wood (I forgot the name of!) And also learn some hand carving techniques from one of the senior technicians Paul. During my 1:1 with Paul, I learned that in one of his previous jobs he worked hand printing wallpaper with wood blocks, he kindly agreed to show me some basics in carving by hand during my next visit, which is extremely exciting!

Last Minute Gay Panic

Why was I panicking? Because I had an event and no adequate outfit!! ‘Twas the night before Queermas and I was up hand printing patches for my outfit the next day. I carefully pinned them to the back of a soft butter yellow XXXL button up shirt. I designed three using my alphabet stamps, they read as follows : ‘I do bad things’ on a red square with lime green ink that covered my whole upper back, on the front I had ‘Lover’ and ‘Dyke’. All of them were bordered and embellished with hand stamped motifs from my collection of Indian wood blocks. I won’t lie I was sooo happy with how it came out! I styled the outfit with two blue wooden necklaces that I wove into each of my plaits, my hair was so long that they dangled past my hips, my up-cycled take on traditional Punjabi Parandi. To finish the look, one of my favourite star shaped bindis in a classic maroon velvet finish.

I wore this look as I volunteered my time running the activities for Queermas 2024 at Mosley Hive, a Christmas event organised and hosted by Fruitpunch, an incredible BPOC run organisation that puts on queer events in the city. For the activities, I took over a corner as Queer Mehndi Night- a monthly event I run in Kings Heath for LGBTQ* South Asians, it felt really special to share this monthly ritual with everybody at Queermas. I also hosted a wood block printing table where people were invited to design their own patch to be pinned or sewn onto clothing or bags (the outcomes were too good).

The Royal Drawing School

I knew I wanted drawing classes in some form as part of this artist development, a large part of my practice revolves around drawing. I’ve previously worked on freelance jobs as an illustrator for print, animation and murals, I’ve also recently started drawing comics to process my thoughts feelings and lived experiences. I rarely leave the house without a pen and paper on me and every one of my bags/coats has a dedicated pocket journal for daily scribbles.

Short of a smattering of life drawing classes, I’ve never had any formal drawing training. I wanted support that would help me think about how I could tell stories through drawing. While I was browsing courses at The Royal Drawing School ‘Drawing Graphic Narratives’ stood out to me and felt like a good fit. The course starts at the end of the month and I am hoping that it will inform the way that I feed in elements of storytelling through the designs of my wood blocks.

The Importance of a Mentor that Sees All of Me

I have a couple of mentor sessions lined up with Exodus Crooks, a British-Jamaican visual artist and educator who works from Birmingham. I love the vulnerability of their work and their active and critical approach to arts education. It was a truly exciting moment having our first initial meeting to say hi, have a yap and discuss what I was hoping to get from our sessions. One of the biggest things I am looking forward to is receiving guidance and support from someone that sees all of me, the identities that I encompass and how they are reflected in the process and outcomes of my art practice. As a brown queer artist, having a culturally competent mentor is so refreshing.

One final thing to note about this whole residency so far- a lot of people and organisations I’ve approached have been more than happy to talk about working together or have offered support in some way. In addition to paying me one dedicated day a week for a 4 month period to focus on developing myself and providing a materials budget, this residency has instilled a new found confidence to just ask for the things that I want, it’s given me the audacity to just… shoot my shot, what’s the worst that could happen? For my time so far and for all of the above, I am so incredibly grateful.

 

Lots of love,

Tasha

Follow Natasha @natasha.taheem

Follow Queer Mehndi Night @queer.mehndi.night