Lot 16: Home I Made A Life in Nine Lines

Zarina (b. 1937)
Home I Made A Life in Nine Lines
signed and dated 'Zarina '97' each
chine collé on handmade Nepalese paper
14 x 13 in. (35.6 x 33 cm) each
Executed in 1997; edition 8/20
set of 9

Mumbai, Bodhi Art,Weaving Memory, 1990-2006, 2007, illustrated, unpaginated
Oakland, California, Mills College Art Museum, 2001

Zarina Weaving Memory, 1990-2006, exhibition catalogue, Bodhi Art, Mumbai, 2007
Exhibition catalogue, Mills College Art Museum, Oakland, California, 2001

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Initially trained in architecture, Zarina's prints recall her sound understanding of space and proportion. Often depicting themes of loss and displacement, her largely autobiographical works allow the viewer a glimpse into her world. "Home I Made A Life in Nine Lines consists of nine etchings of the floor plans of all the homes she lived in. Each print has text on vellum interweaving, and under each print the city and date she had lived there is recorded: First Home, Bangkok 1958-1961; Planted a garden of roses from Aligarh, New Delhi 1961-1963; Watched the Seine flow by and waited for him to come home, Paris 1963-1967; A room of my own, New Delhi 1968-1974; An uncertain time, Bonn 1971-1972, A room of four and a half Tatami, Tokyo 1974; Edge of temporariness, Los Angeles 1975-1976; A horizontal blue line, Santa Cruz 1992-1997; A space to hide forever, New York 1976-. They are true to the spaces, miniaturized, of the actual layouts, while they are architectural diagrams of domestic spaces worldwide." (Joyce Brodsky, 'The Imprint of a Transnational Life,' Weaving Memory 1990-2006, exhibition catalogue, Bodhi Art, 2007)