FATSPATROL

Fathima Mohiuddin is an Indian origin, Dubai born Canadian (immigrant) artist. Her relationship with art and poetic thinking has been long and enduring. Fathima spent many summers in India surrounded by Indian folkart and the infinite pool of creativity that Indian culture oozes of. Being a Dubai kid in a Muslim home also exposed her to Islamic architecture, calligraphy, henna, Persian carpets and a fascination with the moon.

Fathima completed her degree in studio art at the University of Toronto and explored automatic drawing and eventually fell into a rhythm of drawing for personal freedom. Which is still very much where she is today.

She went on to do her MA in sociology and while living in London, became fascinated with art in the public realm. Art that was accessible and magical in the random act of encounter. Larger than life and impactful. Fathima wrote her dissertation on art in public spaces and returned to Dubai to make her own contribution to bringing street art to the city she called home.

"Art gives me a place to be curious. To tell stories. To share how I see things and make sense of the world. To self-accept. Relief from the ‘supposed to’s.

I love to draw but hate the rules. My style is my own. I can pick it apart and attribute it to all the visual information I’ve been surrounded by through my life. Comic books, textiles, mythology, calligraphy, graffiti, and so on. But drawing for me is a freeflowing process and I don’t consciously inject any one influence into my work. I’m interested in how we think and invent. Symbolism and semiotics. Mythology and folklore. Romanticism, existentialism. And ultimately our innate human urge to create, depict and express.”