Strokes of compassion

Lucknow-born Bushra Hasan, who has made her mark in Australia through her Indian-influenced art, now wants to use it as a therapy.
Bushra Hasan
Bushra Hasan

If art enables us to find and lose ourselves at the same time, Lucknow-born graphic artist Bushra Hasan has used art to create an identity for herself Down Under, her new homeland. Hasan, who moved to Australia in 2013, has added beautiful hues to her varied creative portfolio.

In five years, her different strokes have left an indelible mark on the artistic landscape in Australia, and made Hasan a name to reckon with for her brushwork. Be it the painting of a life-size puppet elephant for Moomba Parade, or the Indian truck style art adorning the trams of Kolkata and Melbourne, or the recent community art workshop that she held for immigrants, the shades of her creative sensibilities have charmed one and all.

Armed with a mixed bag of experience in designing newspaper pages and magazine covers in India, Hasan moved to Australia’s cultural capital Melbourne after “falling in love with its vibrant, stylish and arty feel”. The City of Secrets embraced the artist and her India-influenced art with open arms, and she went on to join the Multicultural Arts Victoria (MAV) as Community Liaison Officer in 2018.

“I started looking for jobs after moving to Melbourne. In between, I also launched my art brand Indybindi and started putting its products in various makers’ market. People noticed my art and MAV expressed its keenness to hire me to conduct workshops. In January 2015, Moomba Parade organisers approached me to paint a life-size puppet elephant in Indian art style, and they have used it for all parades since then,” she says.

MAV introduced her to Roberto D’Andrea, a former tram conductor, and an activist who had been working on the unusual friendship between Melbourne Tramways and Kolkata Tramways for 21 years. “Kolkata Tramways had sent an SOS to all the tram-running cities requesting them to put pressure on the West Bengal government to rethink its decision to abolish trams in Kolkata. Only Roberto responded and went there with his team, collaborated with Indian activists and organised shows, etc., that worked and the state government postponed its decision,” she says, fondly recalling her artistic collaboration with Roberto. She used kitschy Indian truck art style to tell the story of 21 years that found its way to the trams of Kolkata to celebrate the iconic tram friendship between the two cities.

“Indian tribal art hugely inspires me, and I am proud to flaunt my Indian roots in my artwork,” she says. Hasan redesigned her artwork and turned it more colourful, and reflective of India’s diverse artistic culture and submitted her entry for the 5th edition of the annual Melbourne Art Trams project. She was one among the eight artists whose design made the cut, and Tramjatra, her artistic tribute, chugged along, happily for seven months from October 2017 to April 2018 on the trams in Melbourne.

She recently led a nine-day long art exhibition for people to share their ‘immigrant journey’ through art at the Emerge In The North festival. “The workshop was an effective step towards building relationships within the community,” she says.

Having used art to create an identity, she wants to use it to heal others. Talking about her next project, she says, “I want to do a lot more to keep myself creatively engaged. I am working on a module that will focus on helping children who are victims of sexual abuse to overcome their trauma through art therapy, heal themselves, and emerge stronger.”

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