Nargis Naqvi is a Saudi Canadian artist with a South Asian ethnicity. She grew up in Saudi Arabia, got her education in the United States in Business, Interior Design and Photography and moved to Canada with her husband and one child in 1999. She resides in Milton with her husband and three children, plus a rabbit.
Her passion for the arts started in grade school and her father indulged her with the best canvases, easels and oil paints. Without any training or formal education, she experimented and created. Other forms of art were introduced along the way but she loved painting more than anything and stuck to that. She now paints in mixed media using spray paints, collage, acrylics, oils and gold leafing plus much more.
Her focus is usually the life of women and often you’d see a clay pot or two in her paintings. The clay pot depicts ‘life’ as it carries water and the woman is often carrying it or it stands broken next to her.
She has exhibited in over 25 exhibitions, has had one solo exhibition and is the Chair for Exhibitions Committee at the Fine Arts Society of Milton. Her painting ‘Humanity First’ has been converted to a traffic box wrap and is on the intersection of Louis St. Lauren and Farmstead in Milton ON.

ARTIST’S STATEMENT

A painting can tell so many stories. My art is folded in layers of my various cultures, my emotions, and a story that I have never shared verbally. With a Pakistani heritage to a Saudi upbringing and a Western education, the thing that binds it all together is my faith. I tell my story from the lens of a Muslim expat. It is a source of healing for my mind and body and a reason to develop connections and build bridges with the community around me.

Have you ever felt a connection to a print or a piece of fabric? I often see patterns and prints and find my inspiration for the next piece of work, often decoupaging them onto the canvas before layering thick paint in bold brushstrokes of contrasting colors. I also love crystals and the shine of resin and incorporate that as part of the look, either on the painting or a separate piece of tray and coasters that someone can cherish forever, bringing a piece of the ethnic into their homes.

I have enjoyed my experiences and want to take the viewers on this journey via art. A journey that tells the colorful stories of women swathed in rich fabric, from villages and deserts to humanizing their emotions that could be relatable to us.