The one who swims against the stream by Aida Oluwagbemiga

For our Yonki International feature, we chat with a Dutch-Iranian organic chemist turned artist, Negar Rashidi. 

Aida: In 2021, I was introduced to Negar Rashidi through Tascha Sciarone, the manager of Gallery Sorelle Sciarone.

Negar Rashidi: I love this quote so much (she says her voice excited)

‘Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow,’

Kurt Vonnegut.

We were living in Tehran, the most polluted city in Iran. We would often travel to the north, which is at the Caspian sea. It would take us about 5 hours, so this was the nearest holiday destination, if we wanted nature and the sea. 

Aida: Can you tell me a bit about your background? 

Negar: In 2000, I fled my country to the Netherlands with my mother and my one year older sister (I was 14 and she was 15). Part of my family are in Iran, part have immigrated to other countries, such as Germany. I have never been back ever since, there has always been fear of what might happen. We lived in shelters, from one shelter to another, this is not just my story, this is the story of so many others. All my story and work comes from hope, when you feel like you have lost it, hope comes like a spark, a new person and it will always be hope. (It took us 8 years to get our residency). I am a chemist now, chemistry is really my thing, it comes together, like brush strokes, moves, or chemical equations in the lab, you create something new. My art is born from experience, finding beauty in the smallest things.  I have two beautiful boys now and I am still afraid so is my partner. It is only recently that I feel I have to go back. My country, Iran, is huge, in its art, its culture and so much. Together with the Delft.

On weekends, my sons and I, We do a lot of walks, to be in nature, sometimes cycling and touching everything that’s around, we love climbing, the mountains, and then swimming in the sea.

Aida: What do you miss the most about Iran; 

Negar: I miss it so much, I need to go back to reconnect with my people, to speak that language, to learn that poetry. Art, be it dancing or singing, will awaken your soul.

‘I love the Iranian, ‘Fesenjoon’. It’s a stew made out of walnuts and chicken and you eat it with rice. I have gotten hungry and mouth watering just thinking about this.‘

Aida:  How did your journey as an artist begin?What inspired you to paint on oysters? 

Negar: It all started with Covid period, I was going through tough times. I had a burn out, even with my own home, my two boys bouncing all over the place, I had been painting on canvas previously but I needed time to paint, to disconnect, and I have this beautiful thing with the sea, whatever the sea creates for us, be it corals. Coming back to recycling and our planet and giving back this was how it all started, I started with the delft blue (cobalt blue- I believe it comes from China as they use on their ceramics– Chinese pottery, passed through middle east and comes all the way to Europe) mixed with my own style of painting, I started broadening this, to flowers and portraits and it became so much more. Being from Iran I refer to my art as miniature art.  

If I could be by water, it’s a shore in Hague, called ‘Scheveningen’.

Aida: Why Delft blue? 

Negar: I became famous this way, because when I started it was new, but it’s not so new anymore and so I have transitioned to more colors which probably has something to do with my work as a chemist. I have been contacted by so many galleries, from all over the world.

Aida: How do you balance being an artist and a chemist? 

Negar: I love my work in the lab but the art feeds my soul. My art is always saying what is going on within me, my emotions, sometimes, you show yourself as being absolutely okay, but inside you are drowning, this is precisely why I do my art, and then I can breathe.  

I try to say a lot with art which I cannot do with poetry.

Aida: How do you approach painting on oysters? Could you walk me through your process, from sourcing the shells to the finished piece?

Negar: I get my shells from Oyster farms, I ask for bigger shells, they go specifically diving for me. The bigger shells are not so wanted, they get those and send them to me. There’s a lot of work in cleaning them, they smell so bad, so I have to think for a while about what to do with them. I use porcelain paints as they give adhesion. I bring a top layer so it is protected and also I add a nice shine. I used to sell in the baroque frame. The baroque frame comes from my childhood. In Iran everything is carved and has gold, in the past I didn’t like it, but now if you do them in the right way it comes out so nice. If I must say, I find my work so sexy. Oftentimes, I look at my work and say I cannot possibly put this out for sale. 

I put on piano music when painting, sometimes ancient stories. I love to listen to this, so I listen to them.

Aida: What’s it like working with oysters as your canvas? Do their shapes and textures influence your designs? 

Negar: At times, it is very difficult, the oyster surface is very slippery and I use a permanent marker. If you wipe it out, you can still see it underneath. You need to know what you want to do and you need steady hands. I am the one who swims against the stream, I like to do my own thing which is why I don’t flow with the stream and use canvas so much. Painting miniature art is so beautiful for me, the shells are born from the sea. It is difficult but I love it.

I love white, blue and black. There’s hope with white, I love how strong black is and blue I just love blue, I can never give you one answer.

Aida: Did you learn this technique yourself, or was there training that helped you develop your style? 

Negar: Yes, my first shells were horrible, there was no fluency, and thicker lines. I have been painting on shells for 4 years and I really can see the progress of my work. I never had classes, as a child I was always painting, 6 years ago, there was an atelier next to our house, and my partner pushed me to take a workshop class then and it was 20 people doing their own thing, with one instructor, my main question at the time was how to make the lines fade.

I love the writer, Clarissa Pinkola Este’s, with her famous impressive book: women who run with the wolves.

Aida: How do you make sure your materials and process are sustainable? 

Negar: The oysters are the main part of recycling, for paint I don’t have many options and maybe my frames, because those are repurposed, I buy used frames.

Two very good poets for me are Hafez, the other is Rumi. In Iran, even if I am with my family, even on social media, we always respond to each other with a piece of poem. I can’t do it but I read, and it’s so beautiful. I would like to learn that, to take lessons in poetry. I feel like I am missing that, it is part of my heritage which I am not living. 

Aida: Are there specific artists or traditions that influence your work? 

Negar: I can’t name any specific artists, because of the lifestyle that I had, I never got a chance to go to museums or galleries, I am still not doing that. I have such a busy job and then my kids during the weekends and so for that reason I can’t name any. My only source of inspiration is when I am on my phone, at evenings I have half an hour to just scroll on my phone. I have colleagues who ask me how do you not know this and that artist, I sometimes feel ashamed about not knowing them. On the other hand, I do feel proud that yet I have become an artist and can out my emotions without being exposed to so much of it. 

A dark beer is my go to drink. I hardly ever drink, but sometimes it does quench my thirst.

Aida: Do you feel your art tells a particular story or conveys a specific message?

Negar: I would say the message is, my art speaks directly to the soul and the names that I give my artwork. The meaning to what I give my art, the butterfly stands for hope, it’s something that reignites you and speaks to your soul.

Aida: Do you think your work changes how people see sustainability in art?

Negar: I hope so, I recycle and repurpose canvas and so much and I hope it will bring that message that is my intention.

I live in Old Rijswijk, in Holland. I love it because it’s old, I want old because it has character, I don’t like high rise buildings, I wouldn’t have it any other way, I don’t like new.

Aida: Where do you see your work going next? Are there other materials or techniques you’d like to explore?

Negar: Recently, I have been focusing a lot on 3D artwork, sustainability comes into place, I use Insulation materials or any type of foams in the packaging from labs. They are like foams you throw away, and I bring them to my atelier, the Kunsthuis DEIK atelier. I get lost in my mind working with this foams in my atelier here and it is constantly blowing my mind. 

I have had this atelier since July. I share it with others. It is a semi gallery, which I share with more artists, in the evening they give workshops. I have a little corner there to just create art. 

Singing is also a passion of mine, it started recently, about a year ago, I started piano lessons, which have been so difficult for me. It’s so surprising, my partner calls me my man because I fix things, I create things so this was so surprising for me. I said this to my teacher and I started using my vocals and my whole world opened up to me, and this was at a time when I had a shoulder injury and singing opened me up so now I take singing classes.

Aida: Do you have a favorite piece, or one that feels especially meaningful to you? 

Negar: This is so difficult. I can tell you that hope was my favourite for a long long time, she has been sold. That was just everything for me. It was when strikes were happening in Iran and women were being beaten to death, that is when I made that piece, and so it meant alot to me. I can’t tell you that I have a favourite now. I love Yaar, it’s a horse.

Next to my scientific career, painting has been my passion, what it has taught me is that our passions are not separate paths.

Visit Negar’s Website: www.negart.nl.