Charmaine Chaudry’s artworks largely comprise of a study around the theme of identity and the “exotic”. Charmaine is English-Pakistani and finds that her personal connection to being a combination of identities helps her relate to other subcultures and identities, many of which are misunderstood, or stereotyped. Through her work, Charmaine presents the “other” or the “exotic”, whether a portrait, or a foreign landscape, in a warm and familiar way. This familiar sentiment draws together what are commonly understood as antithetical identities or themes. For her, the only thing that separates the familiar and the exotic is perspective. For her, human identities and experiences overlap vastly more often than we realise.
Charmaine is inspired by great masters such as photographer Steve McCurry, and painters Monet and Turner. She loves how they manifest a warmth, gentleness and familiarity in their scenes and choice of subject matter. She also loves to capture the spontaneity and movement of light and colour, conveying these with bold brush strokes and overall creating moods of warmth and nostalgia. Charmaine wants her audience to find a relatability in her artwork, even if they have never seen the face painted, or visited the location captured.
Charmaine is currently doing a lockdown project called ‘Lockdown Places-Works on Paper’, where has asked people to send in photos of either local places that they have explored and have brought them comfort over the last year, or places that they are looking forward to returning to once travelling rules are back to normal. She it as a way to help people escape the lockdown blues and provide them some personal escapism.
