Unwritten CU | Nilupa Yasmin

Continuing with our spotlight of Coventry University 3rd year photography students, we're shining a light on Unwritten CU, an exhibition displaying the final degree work from 25 artists graduating this year from Coventry University. The work displayed showcases a diverse range of practices, methodologies, and mediums. Themes explored include environmental awareness, womanhood, documentaries of Coventry’s communities and investigations into family archives. To celebrate the upcoming exhibition, we interviewed three of the artists who have been turning heads. Today we turn focus to Nilupa Yasmin...

British Bengali artist, Nilupa Yasmin has created an installation series, ‘Grow me a Waterlily’, which aims to discover and dissect her numerous self-identities.

Hey Nilupa! Can you tell us more about yourself as an artist and your relationship with photography?

Hi Chloe! I do quite like the term artist when considering what to title myself. I feel that as artists, there are no such things as having limitations and that pretty much sums up my practice. I work with a range of artistic mediums on whatever projects I’m working on but I always start with my photographs and branch out.

My relationship with photography came from allowing myself to believe that all my crazy ideas are possible and very much a form of my own self-expression. My work isn’t always something you would consider in the realms of photography and that’s exactly why I like it there. I take a very personal interest in crafts and the relationship we, I particularly as a woman, have with it. I weave, stitch and collage my photographs, which create this very personal feeling to the work I’m making. You don’t have to see me in a piece of my work to know that this is a part of me. I’m always present in the tactility of the work in front of you.

Your current series ‘Grow me a Waterlilly’ is an exploration of yourself, and more specifically, your identities and cultures. How and why did you come up with the concept?

As a south Asian Muslim woman, born and brought up in England, I have always drifted between all these identities that are surrounding me. I’m always expected to be a certain way to fit into these cultures that I am a part of, but I never do. I believe that I don’t truly fit into a space, as I’ll always be too much of one to fit into the other. This project came as a way of finding that place. At my final year of my degree, I made it to a point that no one really thought I would. I can probably count on my hand the people that thought Id actually get this far. My art is where I will always have a place because its what I make of it. I create my art as a part of me, so it only seemed fitting that I use it to make this place that I’ve always been missing.

During the project I went through many forms of self discover whether that was from an old family photo or a piece of wedding gold. It took me a while to realise that I am a part of all these labels that somewhat defines me and that’s okay. Some days I wake up and I know I can be a part of them all and still be whom I want to; on other days I feel that it’s not enough. That’s just a part of this process and it’s a great learning curve.

You chose to weave your images together, creating a very immersive piece for the viewer to unravel. How did this traditional craft aid you in exploring your different identities?

Weaving is very personal to me. I’ve always had this exciting connection to paper and all the things we can do with it. I self taught myself origami at the age of 9, going from a paper crane to a 3D modular origami models. There's this exhilarating feeling you get from looking at the final outcome and knowing you went through quarreling with a lot of paper to get there. In my second year of my degree I learn that my grandmother was a weaver and she would weave together utilitarian objects such as stools, mats and baskets to sell and make a living from.

This connection really drew me into weaving and the relationship I subconsciously had with crafts. One idea spiraled up another; I went from exploring this lost family heritage to the relationship my maa had with crafts and her perception on my art and practice. I still have so much more to explore and I’m excited to thing about all the possibilities I can work into. ‘Grow me a Waterlily’ brought my dissertation into a physical form; it was everything I knew a craft does. I am a woman and there are many connotations between my gender and my practice that define my work in many ways. Equally the of place of craft in art practice and where that leaves works like mine will always be a part of what I’m making.

I weave together these self-portraits that are parts of my many identities and create an installation that represents a living room space. This is my space that is made up of me and you’re invited to come in.

We see a lot of ideas and traditions that are very close to your family’s heritage and culture, has this been the main influence?

Yes, the weaving does come from my own family heritage but being Bengali is everything my work is about. If you had asked me at the beginning of my degree, I would never consider the idea of ever exploring this part of me; today I cant seem to stop. I learn something new about being Bengali everyday and I thank my art for that.

I’ve found myself connecting more to the lifestyle and upbringing my Maa has had and how that has influenced me. My Maa is a very reoccurring subject for my art and she binds me to these traditions in many ways. Its always fascinated me to see how she’s adjusted to this British life whilst being born and brought up in Bangladesh, yet her roots as always with her.

Identity is a crucial factor within your work. Do you find it reassuring or perhaps intriguing whilst exploring your various identities, and how do you think others’ can relate to this work?

My work is for everyone who is part of these many identities. Its so important to see a representation of yourself in the work you enjoy making. I have many artists I admire and look up to for inspiration and so see women, brown women in particular, doing and saying things only I though I could feel. I want my work to do that, I want someone who feels like they’re the only one feeling this way to know that I’m here too and there are so many of us here with you.

The trick is to embrace it; if it confuses you then that’s exactly where your starting point is to explore what identity really is to you.

See more of Nilupa’s incredible project at Nilupayasmin.com

www.unwrittencu.com

Visit unwritten’s exhibition free public openings:

27th May 11am-7pm

28th- 2nd June 12pm-7pm

3rd-4th June 11am-7pm

At The Box,

Fargo Village,

Coventry,

CV1 5ED

Instagram: unwritten.CU