Circles of Love is a multifaceted exhibition where Patricia Yasmine Graf, Artist in Residence program at the National College of Arts (NCA) worked with Up-cycling and Design thinking to produce diverse works. Ms Graf is a freelance multidisciplinary artist and designer from Aachen, Germany. She graduated from the Fine Arts Academy in Maastricht, The Netherlands in 2001.
In 2005, she founded her own brand PYG® bags, furniture and accessories, with a worldwide distribution network. In recent years Patricia has participated in many international exhibitions and carried out various artistic performances. This year from March till June 2022 she worked as Artist in Residence at the National College of Art in Lahore, Pakistan.
As part of the Artist in Residence program at the NCA, she has offered different “Design Thinking” and “Up-Cycling” workshops for students of the product design and textile design department. In these workshops, the focus was on giving new value to the leftover material from the regional denim production provided by the company Crescent Bahümán.
In her designed works, she sees in herself a responsibility to deal with environmental issues and climate change in order to find sustainable ways and solutions for these challenges. She also ensures that the products she designs are produced in the most ethical ways possible.
During her residency at NCA, Patricia worked with a vision to inspire the product design students to deal intensively with the given material and carry out creative material research to get to know its properties. In the end, the prototype of a new product was to be created from the insights gained. Similarly, each student in the textile design department was provided with a particular size of 12 x 12 inches in order to join them all together to create a huge individual piece. As a result, a larger-than-life interactive installation called ‘Circles of Love’ was produced using 100 denim tote bags, sewn out from denim which is currently on display at the Tollinton Block NCA.
Vice-Chancellor NCA Prof Dr Murtaza Jafri praised the diverse array of works produced by Ms Graf and also encouraged young students who took part in the valuable project. He said that these projects are indeed very significant to generate awareness regarding environmental issues that we are dealing with in current times. The exhibition was a happening event and welcomed a number of guests from every walk of life.
