Mustafa Sidki
Essex
Until my late teens I grew up in a strict Muslim household where everyone was expected to take part in religious activities. From an early age we were encouraged to memorise prayers and fast during the month of Ramadan. With peers I was perceived as English but at home a different set of rules applied. Over thirty years later and an atheist, those Islamic traditions and religious indoctrination lay buried and are unconsciously, deeply embedded. My work is based upon these memories. I have created a series of works around a theme that refer to the interpretation of traditional prayers, employing a typographical approach utilising both digital and traditional letterpress processes. I use relief printmaking with monoprint, wooden type and linocuts to create these unique prints. I am also exploring 3-D forms that incorporate construction with traditional printmaking methods. Everything I create starts life, or has been recorded, in a sketchbook. These sketchbooks are on going, forming a rich document of thoughts and ideas, both technical and conceptual.
Training: MA Printmaking, Anglia Ruskin University – 2013
Occupation: Printmaking tutor and practising artist printmaker
Exhibition profile:
The Fitzwilliam Museum - Print included in 'The Human Touch: Making Art, Leaving Traces' exhibition - Cambridge, UK - 2021
NOPE (National Original Print Exhibition) Bankside Gallery London - 2018
neo:printprize, International Print Biennale – Bolton, UK - 2016
International Open Print Exhibition - Art at Wharepuke, New Zealand - 2016
Gibberd Gallery, Essex, UK - 2016
Bloomberg New Contemporaries:
World Museum Liverpool, UK - 2014
The ICA, The Mall, London - 2014-15
Newlyn Art Gallery, Penzance, UK - March 2015
The National Open Art Competition (NOA) Somerset House, Strand London - 2014
The Minerva Festival Theatre, Chichester, UK - 2015
Abbey Walk Gallery, Grimsby, UK - 2014 (Invited artist)
Madison Museum of Fine Art (MMoFA) Georgia, USA - 2014
From 2020 work now held at Museum of Arts and Sciences (MAS Macon) - Georgia, USA
Print Jam, Art Bermondsey (award winner) London - 2014
East Contemporary Art Collection - Suffolk, UK - 2013
Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge, UK - 2013
Williams Art Gallery, Cambridge, UK - 2013
Burts Gallery, Southwark, London - 2011
Prints in the collection of:
National Portrait Gallery (London) 2022
Two prints entitled 'Forebearer I & II' (Cardboard cut with monoprint background)
V&A London permanent print collection 2022
Hommage II, 2/10 (VE) Variable Edition - cardboard, linocut, and mono print
The Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge, UK - 2021
Museum of Arts and Sciences (MAS Macon) - Georgia USA - 2020
The East Contemporary Art Collection - 2013
21st Century British Painting and Drawing - Swindon Museum and Art Gallery, UK - 2013
Publications: Work included in:
Printmaking Today - Profiled artist - 2019
‘Extraordinary Sketchbooks’ A&C Black, London - 2011
‘Printmaking on a Budget’, A&C Black, London - 2008
‘Drawing Matters’ A&C Black, London - 2004
'Printmaking for Beginners’, A&C Black, London - 2004
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