RABIA KHARA, MA, MFT (Trainee), RDT (Trainee), PhD candidate
I have been painting and drawing since I was 10 years old. As I evolved through different developmental stages, so did my vision of the world. As a psychotherapist in training treating clients in a therapeutic setting and an individual with life experience spanning a few decades, I have been intimately involved with feelings of depression, anxiety and sense of isolation. I have always used expressive arts as a healing modality in my own work and as a cathartic experience to bring forth that which lay dormant in my mind. The pandemic brought a wave of destruction but with it, a glimmer of hope, for a change that might be intangible at first, but is deeply rooted in values that we hold dear to our heart. All my pieces represent an abstraction of those ideals and if they elicit a similar response from the viewer, I am beyond grateful for that.
Intersection of Love and Divinity
(Mixed Media, 11” x 14”)
Love is the most powerful and beautiful emotion in the world, to me. The feeling itself can take many forms and represent in ways that connect us as a shared humanity across borders and time. The premise behind this piece was a bit of nostalgia interspersed with love, divinity, travel and hope. Done entirely on canvas using oil with abstract shapes representing community, printed material representing a bygone era and music, that makes the core of who I am and photographs from my travel, I chose to encapsulate time. Some other materials used are self- constructed bamboo raft, gemstone bracelets, metal hand holding a heart, gauze, tissue paper and a combination of soul and passion.