Henna-lapse

5 April 2010 – 7:20 am


I recently decided to collaborate with Nick Gralmaan in creating an experimental shoot, above.  You can see more pictures on www.bit.ly/NickGraalman (We appreciate the comments/suggestions/criticisms that have been given by everyone and look forward to hearing more as it helps us to improve!!!).

I met Nick, randomly when one day I woke up after having a dream to make a video of my patterns.  I came across the site www.quenchstudios.com.au when I googled ‘Timelapse in Adelaide’, which directed me to www.nickgraalman.com where I watched his beautiful show reel which totally blew me away. The soulful music, natural photography and how the video made me feel was just what I was looking for.

I did call his number a few times but was terribly nervous about speaking up to him, after looking at his impressive creations.  As my heart was having a battle with my head as to what I should say, how I professional should I sound and so on…my mobile rang… “Hello, this is Nick Graalman, I had a missed call form this number I’m just returning the call. Who is this?!” I was so excited and nervous at the same time to hear his voice, I apologized for the missed calls and told him about the idea of making a video of my work. The universe is quite magical, if you believe in it, it guides you to your path and in this case it guided me to Nick through a dream of bringing together our passions.

We organized a meeting straight away, so I could show him my work, and obviously I did a Henna on him which turned out really well, which for me was a sign that our friendship would be something very special. After a few meetings we planned some experimental shots which gave us a chance to spend more time together to understand how we both work and who we were and if at all we are able to bring our passions together, to create something special.

It took a few hours for Nick to set the whole thing on the day in my studio and about 2.5 hours for me to paint him. He occasionally practices yoga and hence he could sit there so still for that long, which is extremely impressive. I felt extremely guilty for giving him so much pain of sitting in one position for so long, and did offer to give him a break but he refused any breaks because that would spoil his video. I am still in an awe of how he made me look at my work. I only know how to create the patterns but I have never seen myself create them, so I am quite touched by this experiment.

After coming back from Europe I was feeling a bit lost here in Adelaide, and was aiming to move closer to my family somewhere in Europe. BUT after doing this video I feel like I am getting the inspiration for creating such work from the people of Adelaide, I don’t feel I can leave them after what they have given me, so I continue to call Adelaide my home at least for now.

I am extremely thankful to my Allah for gifting me with such a precious friend Nick, who because of his beautiful work has made me want to stay here, to keep creating and sharing my passion with you all. THANK YOU!

By Humna Mustafa | Posted in DiyaStudio | Comments (0)

A friend for life ‘Cheeky peeky’

17 March 2010 – 9:09 am

mandi.2010.small1

I met Mandi Whitten of http://weensyweb.com/ a few years ago and our friendship has grown since then. We did a beautiful exhibition together called http://athreadawebaworld.com/ which not only narrated the story of Henna as it traveled through the land and time but also gave us a chance to explore more deeper into our passion, as a result making the whole journey of putting the exhibition together such an amazing experience, which I look back at today and feel extremely blessed.

Every time I meet her she teaches me something new, guides me about people here and helps me understand the western world a bit better. We don’t usually agree on everything obviously, as we come from such different backgrounds, but we still accept each other as who we are and to me in a friendship or any relationship that’s the most important thing ever. She has helped and opened so many doors for me and I truly feel special in her presence. I have grown so fond of her, that refusing her has become a problem and in beginning of this year she told me about her desire of having a tattoo and would like me to design it for her. Obviously I couldnt refuse her and started working on something that would tell a story of me and her.

I was surprised and slightly shocked that someone would like my work on their body forever, and not get bored of it. I still cant believe it that she carries me with her 24/7. I am short on words how it makes me feel, so the simplest way of saying it for me would be, ‘…to be with her is a blessing, to be on her is an honor, to be in her is friendship and to be her is love!’

The picture above is the Peacock I design for her, with the Henna painted around it. I call it, ‘ Cheeky Peeky’. It’s placed on the inside of Mandi’s left arm, and it’s not always visible to everyone, it only peeks out to people she feels close to and with whom she is happy to share cheeky with.

I feel like this piece symbolizes a few things for me, one that I will always be in Mandi’s life, reminding her how wonderful our friendship is, has been and will be. I have been requested to design more so the patterns keeps growing and that to me means our friendship will grow with time giving us lots of moments we will treasure always.  On a very different level it also reminds me again and again how welcome I have felt coming in Australia, that people here not only want to be with me today but want to rememeber the time spent with me for as long as they live.

Hopefully I’ll design the next bit of the tattoo soon, and then will update you guys about it. It has been a long journey for me, being able to say yes to something so permanent, but as you all would know by now, my relationships are the the most important things in my life…and by giving such a permanent gift to Mandi, I feel even stronger about my them and my desire to remember the people I love so much, forever till life and time allows.

By Humna Mustafa | Posted in DiyaStudio | Comments (2)

Henna Necklace

17 February 2010 – 12:36 pm

Neck2010FebAs you must have noticed, doing something new is always a challenge but at the same time it’s exciting to know what can you really achieve in the end. Not knowing, helps not to expect less and walk in the dark with a belief that you’ll find your light inside that will take you to your path.

Thanks exactly how I felt when painting Rebecca’s Henna necklace. I thoroughly enjoyed creating the pattern, as always but it was my first one in that size. I felt it was a tricky place to paint, because it’s a softer skin, and the person cant look here and there as even a slightest movement in the head, changes the way the patterns comes out. Luckily sitting still was not too hard for Rebecca, and the pattern just flowed out smoothly.

To me it felt like she has a strength of a queen to stand up in front of whoever, and keep a focus on her powers. She’s an artist, a massage therapist and a wonderful mum. While painting her I don’t know why, but I kept thinking of the Egyptian queens who wore the most beautiful necklaces around their necks. I wont say the pattern is inspired from Egyptian designs, but the form is surely from there. Who needs jewelery when you can get painted like this whenever you like?!

I sincerely hope she enjoyed the creation as much as I enjoyed creating it, and cant wait to paint another one soon!!

By Humna Mustafa | Posted in DiyaStudio | Comments (0)
Henna