Creating magic through art
paintings demonstrate this as she attempts to create a new world for the collector. Other paintings tell of a girl stuck in time, longing for the home she left in her homeland.
Apart from admirers of her work Naeema is also inspired by Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo and Monet. Her most challenging piece and one of her best to date is called ‘Enigma’; it is an expression of her deepest and most complicated thoughts on the flow of life and finding balance.
The art industry has brought with it challenges as well. Naeema found that collectors would go looking for older and more experienced artists and that many buyers were partial to male artists. She began to find ways of working around this. “…I always have conversations with potential customers and we would find something interesting to talk about. We’d discuss the paintings, have a few laughs and I suppose that’s what helps to break the stereotype that art is a man’s world.”
Art for Naeema has been a mode through which she expresses herself, where she finds her inner self. She works mostly with acrylics and most of her paintings are painted with a palette knife instead of a brush. “Art is a very emotional for me. My paintings are filled with flavours of every emotion. It’s an outlet for my feelings, a way to free myself. I think what makes [what I do] successful is that people can feel the emotions of each piece and find it relatable to their own feelings or experiences,” she said.
If she could meet with someone who would change the outcome of her life, it would not be any of the artists mentioned though she would be grateful for such an opportunity. Instead, she would want to go back to when she was much younger, a girl who conformed to what others thought she should be and tell her to be herself – then she would have found herself sooner. It is reflecting on this that Naeema admonishes aspiring artists, “….It’s not going to be easy following your passion but it will always be worth it.”
She sees herself touring and exploring the world, and expanding on her art.
The 32-year-old is a wife and a mother to two little boys who send her into creative mode sometimes. They too, though still in kindergarten, have already begun painting bold little pieces, following in their mother’s footsteps.
She currently works a day job having only this past January migrated to the US but is keeping an eye open with the aim of finding the ideal spot to set up her gallery.
Her free time finds her spending time with her boys, swimming and exploring.
Naeema can be contacted on