Kurdish artist finds peace in her art and niche on Instagram
"There are all kinds of people from lots of different places who follow me on Instagram,” said the 20-year-old Nask.
With only 235 posts, she now has more than 6,500 followers. Nask draws, sketches and paints on different mediums — stones she finds in the mountains of Rawanduz, sea shells bought from the bazar, notebooks, and even cell phone covers.
"It just comes from my mind," adding that she doesn't duplicate what she sees in the real world. "I don't like going into nature and just copying what I see. I don't like to do realism. I don't care. It's more freeing.”
Some of her more popular art are multi-faced paintings, which she blends into one larger face.
"Sometimes she represents herself as a good person, but in the back of her mind she's not actually good,” Nask said of the character in some of her paintings. "Some people have not only two faces but many faces in their life. Even they are liars to themselves.”
Nask has grown up in Erbil but now studies business in Sulaimani.
“In our society we have a lot of people like this, having many personalities so you fully understand each person,” she explained.
Despite a two-year hiatus to focus on school, the soft-spoken passionate artist has hundreds of pieces of art that she keeps in her bedroom including intricate geometric black-and-white wall murals.
"I feel like my art is as if they are my own children. Sometimes I don't want to sell them. I just want them to be around me,” Nask said. “But my art is only in my room, but I want to allow people to see my work and maybe make an exhibition.”
Once she tried to display her work at one of the regular exhibits at Erbil’s Shanadar Park, but she was turned down by the judges because her work was different from what they were looking for.
"One time I asked them to display my things, but they told me that I have to email them and three or four people would review my work. But they would say 'Oh, we need a big canvas, not a small one.' So they didn't accept me,” she said.
Nask says she cannot fully devote her studies to art because that isn’t seen as a respected profession by some.
“They don't understand what art is. They really don't appreciate the process. It's not easy. For example, when you find a stone, it should be soft and a special stone,” she said. “They don't understand it's art and not just stones.
"Many people have told me that I'm just wasting my time and that being an artist is not equal in our countries to other professions.”
Still, when people see her art for the first time, Nask says they are “mostly supportive ... they don't make bad comments.”
She hopes to pursue a career as an artist and receive formal training at a foreign art institute after her studies at the American University in Sulaimani.
“When I will finish my university, I'll be like 25 years old. In Kurdistan, finishing college at 25, I won't be able to study art here,” she said.
For now, her art is her comfort and every new piece gives her time for reflection.
“I become comfortable when I do it,” she said. “I was born with it. How can I not do it?”