Rasheed Araeen
Rasheed Araeen is an internationally acclaimed, London-based artist, curator, writer, activist and inventor. Active for over six decades, Rasheed’s body of work includes his own conceptual and performance art, sculpture as well as significant written and curatorial contributions to the art world. Rasheed is recognized as a pioneer of minimalist sculpture in the UK and his performance, photography, sculpture and painting have challenged Eurocentrism within the British art establishment.
As a compliment to his art, Rasheed’s life has also been dedicated to activism focusing on liberation struggles, democracy and human rights including work with the Black Panthers and Artists for Democracy. Rasheed founded the critical journals Black Phoenix (1978 - 79), Third Text (1987 - 2011) and Third Text Asia (2008 - 10).
Rasheed curated two landmark exhibitions in the late 1980s, Essential Black Art at the Chisenhale Gallery and The Other Story: Afro-Asian Artists in Post-War Britain at the Hayward Gallery, South Bank Centre.
More recently, Rasheed created Rhapsody in Four Colors, a 35 meter high sculpture for the Agha Khan Center in London. Rasheed Araeen: A Retrospective, the first comprehensive survey of his work over 60 years, was exhibited at galleries across Europe. Rasheed is a recipient of several of awards and recognition including three honorary PhDs.
In 2019, Rasheed opened Shamiyaana - as an intersection of a restaurant and an artwork building on his belief that art should be participatory. Rasheed Araeen’s work is a part of the Hundal Collection at South Asia Institute including works from his Windcatchers and Homecoming series.
Recently, we had the opportunity to ask Rasheed a few questions as a part of our #SAIatHome series. He was also kind enough to share one of the recipes from Shamiyaana.
You have had a prolific career as an artist that spans half a century that traverses mediums, genres and disciplines, how do you describe yourself and your work?
I’m an artist and what I do as an artist is my work.
Your work has always been connected to communities and social change/commentary, what inspired you then and what continues to inspire you now?
My work is the reflection of my experiences of life. As life changes my experience of it also changes, so does its reflection in my work. Life is beautiful as well as ugly, and both inspire me and enter into my work.
Can you share any reflections or wisdom on the role of the artist during the current times in which we are living?
AlFarabiAlFarabiAlFarabi, 2010 - 2013
We are going through the ugly part of life, which is our own making. If we go on exploiting nature and not paying any respect to its own work, this will happen again. I’ve suggested in my writing that we will have to work with nature, not against it. The movement of Black Lives Matter is right in raising issues about which there had been a silence; and what is happening consequently is symbolic. The real will happen when the whole world rises up against the forces of exploitation and oppression.
Is there a secret to staying creative and producing work over many decades?
There is no secret. Free imagination is always creative, and I always follow it.
Tell us more about your latest endeavor, Shamiyaana, how does it connect back to your work as an artist and what form does it take in the era of pandemic?
The explanation of Shamiyaana is in my book ART BEYOND ART. My point in the book is that art should be part of the productivity or activity of everyday life. As an artist, there is not much I can do about the pandemic.
Phoolgobi Lobia Recipe
(Cauliflower with Kidney Beans)
There is nothing special about Phoolgobi Lobia. It is one of the 8 to 10 vegetarian dishes I designed for Shamiyaana. As mixtures of vegetables and various kinds of beans it uses the Chinese method of cooking, that is, stir frying and steaming. The whole thing should not take more than 5 minutes.
Ingredients
18 oz. cauliflower
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 red pepper
1 onion
ginger, finely chopped
garlic, finely chopped
green chilies, finely chopped
1 tomato, chopped
mix masala
METHOD
Chop one onion, red pepper, and cauliflower (into long thin pieces).
Fry them all together for 2-3 minutes, and then cover them for 30 seconds.
Add finely chopped ginger, garlic and green chilies, with a spoonful of mix masala powder.
Stir them for 30 seconds.
Add one finely chopped tomato and cook them all together for 20 seconds
Wash the kidney beans and drain them; and then add them to the whole thing.
Stir the whole thing for 20 seconds.
The final result should not be mashed up, but all the ingredients should be visible separately, cooked but somewhat crispy.
Finally, add some lemon juice and serve.
Note: If the whole thing becomes a mash, try it again without the tomato