Google Doodle Honors Zarina Hashmi's 86th Birthday

Today, Google Doodle celebrates the birthday of Zarina Hashmi, a famous Indian American artist who would have been 86 today. The doodle, designed by guest illustrator Tara Anand from New York, honors Hashmi's unique artistic style by using her signature geometric and minimalist abstract shapes.

Hashmi was well-known for her impressive sculptures, prints, and drawings. Her artwork, which aligned with the Minimalist movement, skillfully used abstract and geometric forms to create a deep spiritual experience for the viewer.

Zarina Hashmi was born in 1937 in the small Indian town of Aligarh. She had a happy childhood with her four siblings until the partition of India happened. This tragic event forced Zarina, her family, and many others to move to Karachi in newly formed Pakistan.

At the age of 21, Hashmi married a young diplomat and embarked on a journey that took her to various places around the world. During her travels to Bangkok, Paris, and Japan, she had the opportunity to explore printmaking and immerse herself in the influences of modernist and abstract art movements.

In 1977, Zarina Hashmi moved to New York City, where she became a passionate advocate for women and female artists of color. She joined the Heresies Collective, a feminist journal dedicated to the intersection of politics, art, and social justice.

Hashmi also worked as a professor at the New York Feminist Art Institute, which aimed to provide equal educational opportunities for women artists. In 1980, she co-curated an exhibition called "Dialectics of Isolation: An Exhibition of Third World Women Artists of the United States" at A.I.R. Gallery. This exhibition played a crucial role in showcasing the artistic voices and perspectives of women artists from marginalized backgrounds.

Hashmi gained recognition for her captivating intaglio and woodcut prints, which incorporated semi-abstract representations of the houses and cities she had lived in throughout her life.

Her identity as an Indian woman, born into the Muslim faith, and her experiences of constant movement during her formative years greatly influenced her artistic expression. Hashmi's artwork often featured visual elements inspired by Islamic religious decorations, characterized by precise geometric patterns that held great aesthetic appeal.

Zarina Hashmi's early artistic works, with their abstract and subtly geometric aesthetics, have been compared to renowned minimalists like Sol LeWitt.

Her art continues to captivate viewers worldwide, as it is included in permanent collections at prestigious institutions such as the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and other notable galleries.

These placements reflect the enduring appeal and significance of Hashmi's artistic contributions.