00:00The growth in the UAE is like an art lover's dream.
00:05You know, we have the Louvre, we have the Guggenheim coming up,
00:09look at Al-Sarkal Avenue where Ishara is,
00:12there is Jameel Arts Centre, there is the Sharjah Art Foundation.
00:16I mean, we are spoiled for choice.
00:18I wish I'd had this when I came in 1980.
00:22It would have been a dream, you know.
00:24I'm so envious of people who come today.
00:31I came to Dubai about 42 years ago.
00:37I'm from Delhi University, did my honours in psychology.
00:41It was a kind of a cultural shock to come here
00:47because I lived in Calcutta at that time.
00:50My father was in the railways because, you know, it was a little...
00:56UAE was just starting up.
00:59So we were in the throes of growth and becoming what we are today.
01:05But at that time, for a young person to be here, to make a life,
01:11it was hard work.
01:13Maybe work or a lifestyle that I really hadn't thought I would have to face.
01:20I think maybe we both, my husband Ramesh and I,
01:23we both really worked hard.
01:25But I think what that hard work did
01:28is actually allowed us to become the people that we are today.
01:32When I came, I couldn't even have a pet
01:35because we lived in an apartment.
01:37Getting used to that, then I decided,
01:39okay, I'd babysit people who were going on vacation, their pets,
01:43so that I could have a pet at least for a month or 15 days.
01:47It was a...
01:49You know, when you live at home, you live with your parents,
01:52you're used to everything being there on a platter.
01:55We come from privileged backgrounds in that sense.
01:59Coming here was actually a great life learner for me.
02:04I realized what potential I had,
02:07the opportunities that the country has given me
02:10are more, I feel, than what I would have had back if I lived in India
02:14because I would have been at that point competing with so many more people.
02:18It was a start-up in many ways for me and for the country.
02:23I think it was when I started my company in 1991,
02:28I decided to give up corporate life
02:30because I realized that between the two of us,
02:33we were both working very hard
02:35and I needed to have some time to do other things that interest me,
02:39that is, reading, art.
02:42I used to volunteer at a library once a week
02:46so that I could be in touch with books, music.
02:50I had many interests, cooking,
02:52so I didn't want to...
02:54I would go to work at 7.30, I'd come back at 9.
02:57That gave me...
02:58And we used to have only a day and a half as a weekend.
03:01It was...
03:03It just didn't allow me any growth opportunities.
03:06But once I got into art,
03:09I mean, got into working by myself from home at that point,
03:15it allowed me to develop my interests.
03:19And I remember going back to Delhi,
03:22and I think it was 1991,
03:24and there was a gallery which was in Connaught Circus in Delhi
03:29and buying my first two, three pieces from there,
03:33which I still have because they're still close to my heart
03:36because they were my first acquisitions,
03:39which I call acquisitions today,
03:41but I call buys then, right?
03:44So the world has changed.
03:46I've transitioned from buying to acquiring.
03:49So when you acquire,
03:51you are actually becoming the custodian.
03:55When you buy, you're buying to sell, to give away or to...
03:58So there's a big shift in my thinking, I would say.
04:02Now I'm a custodian of what I'm acquiring.
04:05Then I was buying perhaps just as a fad
04:09or something I wanted on my walls or whatever it was.
04:13I would say my first thing to a person would be research.
04:17Think, do, buy a print,
04:20not go and not worry about market value.
04:24This return of investment doesn't work with art.
04:28I have not sold a single piece that I've bought.
04:31They're still there.
04:33It's my journey as a person,
04:36and it's like photographs.
04:38You don't throw away photographs.
04:40You look at them, you say,
04:42how beautiful I looked when I was young,
04:44or look at my jawline.
04:46So you look at these works and you say,
04:48ah, I went to Connaught Circus,
04:51and I bought these four works.
04:53They are part of my life,
04:55and they will be part of my life,
04:57always, till I am alive.
04:59So that's what it is.
05:01I am very proud to say that I have non-profit status
05:04from the Community Development Authority.
05:08Our mission is not to be involved
05:13in anything that's transactional or money-oriented.
05:17We hope that because of the fact
05:21that an artist has the possibility of showing with us
05:25and has the possibility of a worldwide audience,
05:28because that's what the UAE caters to,
05:31to a worldwide audience today,
05:34that they have the opportunity
05:37to be targeted by a gallerist,
05:40by an institution, by a collector,
05:43who will include them in their collections
05:47or in their gallery roster
05:50or in the museum collection
05:52and therefore gain fame and fortune.
05:55That is not for us to do.
05:57Our mission is very clear.
05:59It is to showcase the best of that,
06:03and young, experimental,
06:06alongside people who are very, very well-established.
06:10For example, our last show was Jitish.
06:13Jitish Kalat is a very, very established artist.
06:18He is represented in all the collections,
06:22majority of the big collections worldwide.
06:25He's a dear friend, but his work,
06:28you know, the proudest moment was
06:31when he came and he has gifted us a small gift,
06:35which is a compass, which is in the floor of Ishara,
06:38and he's there for perpetuity now,
06:40till we will exist in that space.
06:42And for a dear friend and an artist of his stature
06:46to believe in us, to be able to put that thing down,
06:50he's actually giving me his blessing to say,
06:53you have my blessing to go forward.
06:55That's all we need.
06:57What else do we need?
06:58I started Ishara in 2019.
07:01Ishara is, very simply put,
07:04it's an international platform for artists from South Asia.
07:09It's allowing people, artists who have, I feel,
07:15and my belief in this is very deep,
07:19is that the artists from South Asia are world-class.
07:24They are on par with anybody
07:27who's showing anywhere in the world.
07:30They just don't have the opportunities
07:34that the others have.
07:36And if we can provide,
07:40even if it's a small platform,
07:42but actually I think the team led by Sabih
07:46has done an extraordinary job,
07:48because, you know, during COVID,
07:52he and I sat down and we showcased
07:55the shows that we had on
07:57to almost every leading museum in the world.
08:02We did walkthroughs.
08:05We got hold of the people.
08:07You know, I've made a few connects in my life.
08:09We got through to them and we said,
08:11can we present these artists to your supporters,
08:17who are the people who need to see them?
08:20Because that's what makes it.
08:22There's going to come a time
08:24when our artists are going to stand
08:27on their own two feet
08:29and are going to be acknowledged.
08:32I mean, Damien Hirst is a great artist.
08:35I love him to bits,
08:37but there are many Damien Hirsts in South Asia.
08:42They're just waiting to be there
08:44and have the kind of publicity
08:46that is required to become Damien Hirst.
08:50Not taking away anything from the fact
08:53that he's a super artist.
08:55I mean, he's breathtaking.
08:57I want to go and get,
08:59become an alternative to Dubai Mall.
09:02That's my goal, end goal.
09:04So that people have families,
09:07so they'd say on a weekend,
09:09they're going to see the beautiful fishes in Dubai Mall,
09:12but they're also going to see the art at Ishara.
09:15You know, both are free.
09:17We want to target schools.
09:19We want to target communities.
09:21I want people, that's my only regret,
09:23that not enough people are coming.
09:25I wish we could come,
09:27and if you can, if Gulf News, for example,
09:30can take up our cause and say,
09:33please come.
09:35We will be there to service and to serve.
09:39That's my only, my only,
09:41if there's a feeling of sadness,
09:43only that I'm not being able to get
09:45as many people to come as I would like.
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