Hyderabad: At an age when most of us could not decide what we wanted for our birthdays, Shima says she had “found herself in art”, at just eight. And since then she took steps towards realising that passion with the disciplined practice of Persian miniatures.
An artist equipped with a marketing degree, Shima Talebi has been living in Hyderabad for five years. The 29-year-old Iranian held her first show recently, showcasing her series Inspired by Heaven.
Shima is everything modern even when she explains why traditional art needs to be valued. And that too with something as precise as the Persian school of art.
“The brush is so thin, it’s measured as 0 or 000. That’s how thin the tip is. So when you touch the canvas your hand has to dance. That’s the kind of presence of mind you would need. That is the kind of peace of mind you need to achieve before you start,” she explains.
As a child in Iran she started painting during her vacations. “When I showed my art to my teacher, she said ‘you should not be doing this’. But it was my mom who told me I was good at it,” she says about how she began.
Shima then went on to study carpet designing and then moved to Hyderabad to study MBA in JNTU.
“With my marketing knowledge I have been trading carpets between Iran and India for the last few years,” she adds.
She has also been using her marketing skills to sell her carpet designs. “Persian carpets are hand-woven. So the weavers generally require a design and I have been working on designs for weavers in Iran,” she goes on.
Shima plans to continue working towards taking her miniatures to more people and shows. “Hyderabad does have good taste in this kind of tradition. And I am already planning my next two shows,” she says.
