RUHEE MAKNOJIA

Ruhee Maknojia is a New-York based interdisciplinary artist working in painting, printmaking, and installation. She was born in Texas in 1993 to immigrant parents from India and Pakistan. Maknojia graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Visual Arts and Middle Eastern Studies. Her experience of growing up in America in a home that is culturally Indo-Iranian is the lens through which she sees the world. Her work is heavily influenced by the aesthetics and philosophies of the Persian garden and what it means to open the gates between an internal space of serenity and an external world of chaos.

My work and research deals with the concept of the internal and the external, the esoteric and the exoteric space. In Persian philosophy, the garden is often described as a symbol for paradise on earth, in contrast, the external space (outside the garden) is the wretched and chaos of the world. The garden’s purpose is to provide a place for protected relaxation. My work is trying to create an internal space of serenity, yet it is being constantly shaped and reshaped by the infiltration of the exoteric life. In my process of making, I often imagine my loved ones buried below my feet, while above, my hands are trying to create an incubated space of tranquility.

RIGHT Animal verses man before the king of jinn (Garden series), 2018 Oil paint, mixed media Three 96" × 48" wood panels, with attached 10" × 8" wood panels

Rising Sun in the Garden, 2018 Oil paint, mixed media on canvas and wood panel 96" × 72" × 48"

ABOVE The Grand Debate, 2018 Video animation 05:00 minutes

LEFT Detail, Dancing in the Sun, 2018 Oil on canvas 96" × 150", with attached 10" × 8" wood panels