azraa motala
Born in 1996, Azraa Motala is a visual artist from Preston, England. Her work takes a dominant-autobiographical stance, both conceptual yet representational, redefining the definition placed upon her within the parameters of culturally inherited expectations and the contemporary Western space. She positions the multi-layered identity she embodies, against the limiting social and political lens she finds herself viewed though as a Muslim women. Empowering and uplifting South Asian and Muslim women, whilst touching upon the mutual struggles of many second and third generation immigrants.
Her work places contemporary narratives into paintings using historical semiotics through figurative posturing, tenebrism and the context of 18th and 19th century Orientalist paintings to re-appropriate the image of the Eastern woman.