Rubbena is a London-based artist and facilitator whose work concerns culture, deaf identity and, as a deaf woman of Pakistani heritage, the multi-faceted nature of being a ‘minority within a minority’
Through painting and installations, she creates visual representations of language and emotional expression through her use of colour and form. Rubbena has exhibited widely nationally and internationally and has featured several times on national TV.
Recent commissions have included work for the ITV ‘Create’ series broadcast in 2019, and being Lead Artist for ‘Translating the Deaf Self’, a joint academic and artistic project exploring deaf peoples’ lived experience of being represented through translation.
My installations and paintings explore how we collect our feelings and thoughts within ourselves and how we learn to contain them within our own personal space and cultural boundaries. The artworks created autonomously express ideas of how one reflects with emotions, cultures, disability and identity.
The work on canvas and installation communicated with minimal interpretations and expressions. I use mixed media leaving marks, textures and colours in a mysterious approach for one to explore into their own imaginations. I travel to explore for suitable materials that reflect my journeys in life and the interaction of cultures. The work imitates an insight of my identity, as I often wondered where I see myself in society. I am an Asian Deaf female artist in Western society surrounded with strong influence of Eastern cultures.
