Ziya Tarapore

Ziya obtained a Bachelor's degree in woven and knitted textiles at Manchester University, UK, and a Diploma in Woven textiles from Bombay University, India. She has participated in extensive workshops in Encaustic Art with Deborh Winiarski at the Art Students' League in New York. Her work has been exhibited in the USA, for which she has received awards and recognition. Drawing from colors, textures, and forms inherent in nature, Ziya Tarapore utilizes the unexpected versatility of found and recycled materials to create three-dimensional paintings on stretch canvas. Tarapore repurposes cardboard and packing material to construct abstracted, figurative work that seeks to criticize mass production, instant gratification, and consumerism present across cultures. As an alternative, Tarapore alludes to the timelessness and spirituality of the natural world. She challenges the viewer to consider the ironic duality of her subject matter and chosen media, as the trees that Tarapore often seeks to evoke are the same trees that must be displaced in order to make the paper medium itself. Tarapore layers, melds, and dyes paper of various types, and scrapes and tears the surface to form the textured bark of tree trunks, the form and color of gossamer petals, the sun baked planes of old walls, or the rocks that color mountains and canyons. She incorporates texture and sculptural depth using wet paper, encaustic, and muslin; her background in design and woven textiles informs her practice, as she manipulates dyed and bleached paper as though it were textiles.