The Arab Uprisings caught the world’s attention in a very big way around early 2011 with incredible images of ordinary people standing up to and battling their governments. These images struck a chord with Naseeb, who also saw the links between them and other actions like the Occupy Movement. He admired those young people taking to the streets against corrupt authorities despite putting their own lives at risk.
That same year, Naseeb decided on this subject matter for his GCSE art project while at Manchester Grammar School. He roped in his friend Femi Nylander to pose together in similar action scenarios, and had themselves photographed by the art teacher. He split these photographs into cut out sections that could be reassembled. From these he created a set of tricky and labour intensive lino cuts which he then printed and reassembled into a final image, in combination with some digital printing.
Through doing this Naseeb created a texture of interlocking pieces. He then literally raised the protagonist in the image away from the background scene by around a centimetre using a thick layer of ‘foam core’ cut out. This created a strong yet subtle effect within a bold composition. The style of printing with the strong lines and muted colours was in keeping with the look of street and activist printing in many settings over the past decades but with a modern contemporary twist. This was Naseeb creating art work in his own way.
Looking back at what he did, it might not have been any kind of masterpiece but this work was distinctive and original, full of energy and conviction, and expressed a sense of action against injustice which he identified with at the time. Romanticised? Maybe, but not excessively. Somehow I am more impressed by it now than I was at the time he did it, both in terms of artistry and of the visual narrative. That lino cutting is really not easy to do, let alone getting the figure and proportions right and creating it in interlocking sections. Phew!
To me, Naseeb showed his capabilities especially when he had something he wanted to say and felt for. Naseeb was a passionate individual who thought independently for himself. Along with other things this could give us a clue as to how Naseeb might have developed in the longer run; influences like this would likely have surfaced in some way in his thoughts, activities and expressions at some point if he had stayed on this earth.
Femi put those photos of him and Naseeb in the action poses onto Facebook and at the time I think their friends were kind of amused to say the least. I recently got in touch with Femi who sent me those photos and that’s how they got to be published here. Femi himself is now pushing forward as a progressive poet, actor, activist and musician http://www.feminylander.com .
If any others of Naseeb’s friends have photos or stories we’d love to see them or hear them – just get in touch!
Posted by Kooj Chuhan.
More photos of Naseeb and Femi in their ‘Action Poses’:
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I actually love the lino piece.