Finding Peace Through Madness – Art Exhibition by Sajida Asif

This collection of paintings was triggered by a recent experience of profound deafness and severe tinnitus, which led to the inability to hear any human voice. Unable to communicate with anyone and being trapped in my head, the only place I found peace was in the outdoors amongst nature. It was there, I found myself picking up a paintbrush after many years to create a place where I could escape the madness of the noise in my head and finally find some peace.

Sajida Asif

Sajida Asif is a Birmingham-born artist based in Moseley. After graduating with a Masters degree in Fine Art, Sajida held exhibitions of her work both locally and abroad, with previous exhibitions held in Amsterdam, Walsall New Art Gallery and more recently a six week solo exhibition in the Coach House Gallery, Birmingham. Sajida has carried out lots of commissioned projects with schools and other organisations. These projects have involved murals, fabric hangings and art, painted benches with the Big Read and most recently an outdoor public piece as part of Stechford Art Trail 2018. Sajida has worked with many different mediums and art forms.

Artist Statement

Capturing colour is pivotal. It is always the colour I remember from my experiences of nature. Colour inspires. I strive to convey that sense of peace we can find in nature which is sometimes missing in our world. Through my artwork, I attempt to bring the outdoors inside, a place of peace we can enjoy and envisage ourselves in. Living with beautiful objects and buildings amongst  the natural world, reminds us to reconnect with nature. The underlying subject matter is always finding peace, whether it is through a landscape painting or a surreal composition. I use acrylic paints on canvas to capture the excitement of the world through my perception of it.

7th January to 23rd February 2019

Gunhild Thomson
Branches Through The Year

I am a photographer. I work with analogue photography. I shoot series of photos. I document changes in nature by returning to the same place at regular intervals to take a photo from exactly the same point of view. Each series of small photos (10 cm x 15 cm) is shown together in one large frame.

The work I will show consists of several 12 month series, starting in January, where I took one photo each month. I concentrated on just showing parts of trees, often just a few branches or twigs to give a more detailed view of the leaves and – sometimes – flower petals and the changes that happen over the course of one year.

All images were taken in my local neighbourhood of Handsworth, most of them in Handsworth Park.