Artist Spotlight | Saima Heric
Saima Heric
ARTICLE & PHOTO SAIMA HERIC
Saima Heric was born in Novi Pazar, Serbia, and is an artist who specialises in painting. You can see more of her work on her Instagram account: www. instagram. com / art _ is _ on _ fire
IN THE BEGINNING, when I first began to perceive the environment and the people around me, I would create images in my head. In the air I would draw these images with my finger, until I started taking colouring pencils in my hands and began drawing on the walls of my room and the halls of our flat. My parents realised that I loved to draw, and to separate me from my wall, they took me shopping to buy pencils and paper. That’ s how my observation and curiosity in things was transfered to paper, as my parents had no time to watch my on-goings. Very often, I displayed my works and talked about them to almost every guest who came to visit us. Every one of them has a story.
I have always found my corner to relax with pencils and paper, and mum often has to tell me,“ Leave that paper alone and relax a little.” Then I would have to explain to her that this was my way of relaxing but she would feel sorry for me because she never believed me. Whenever I went on vacation, I always brought along all my colouring pencils and papers with me. I could forget everything, I could repress all the things around me except my instinct to paint the images and things happening around me. My parents began to feel assured of my skills in painting during their conversations with my teachers in primary school but unfortunately they couldn’ t afford to buy me more than paper, pencils and sometimes if I was lucky, tempera.
By circumstance – or maybe it was the destiny in my life – my path led me to study Art at the International University of Novi Pazar, and thus my art story continues to grow. I see inspiration everywhere. Very quickly, I can start to draw and paint my artwork with images of surroundings that are both real and refined. I try to decorate them, even those that are abstract. Although I come from a place where people don’ t often see beauty in paintings, people who paint are adorning our environment with art, and spreading beauty and love amongst us. They too are creating their own little paradise on earth. In my paintings, and in the paintings of other artists, lies value in the beauty of nature and all other things that surround us. Contrary to the attitude of people where I come from, I know this fact: my images will live on long after me, and will speak about a time and life that happened many, many years before...
28 The Travellist | Issue 4, 2016