Today we’d like to introduce you to Azeema Nur.
So, before we jump into specific questions about what you do, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was born and raised in Uzbekistan-a little known part of the world here in US. So any chance I get, I create opportunities to tell others about my native land through stories, cultural events, paintings, photography or food.
After graduating from college, I went to pursue further studies, in Paris. I worked odd jobs to support myself and with the money I saved, I treated myself to films, books and travelling. This was also the time when I started working with the refugees as a translator. These were very vulnerable people, who had just arrived in France with close to nothing and were living in temporary housing situations, awaiting their court hearing. A lot of growing up happened, while working with those families.
In the years to follow, I lived and studied in Turkey, then Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where I was fortunate to join “MSF” (Doctors Without Borders), the original Rebels with a Cause, as a Medical translator. Apart from translating medical and legal documentation and interpreting, my job also involved being a cultural liaison for all the newly arrived expats, briefing them about the specifics and peculiarities of my culture and guiding them throughout their term. It was an incredible honor and privilege to have been part of that great organization.
Later my husband and I moved to the United States, where we have lived for 13 years now.
What do you do, what do you specialize in, what are you known for, etc. What are you most proud of? What sets you apart from others?
These days, I try juggling photography, art, translating and an occasional cultural event management. Life is short, why choose just doing one thing?
Photography and fine art have always been my big passions, my form of self expression and self-therapy. I took photography and art courses whenever I could, throughout my life, participated in group exhibitions, was involved with a product photography project for a year.
It all took a turn from being a hobby, when a former Portland art gallery owner, saw some of the pictures I had posted on Facebook, contacted me and told me she wanted us to create a show featuring my photographs and story. That’s how the “Bukharan Dreams” show was born. The idea was to create an atmosphere of an authentic Bukharan home (my native city), to make people feel they really are in Bukhara, through décor, stories, imagery and food.
The event was a success! The audience really enjoyed the evening, human connections over snacks and tea, and most importantly, the feeling of having traveled to a far away little known place, without boarding the plane.
I became a partner at “Intercultural PDX”, an NGO dedicated to intercultural bridge-building, where we tried to bring communities face to face in a safe, welcoming, culturally authentic environment of immersion, led by the representatives of one minority community at a time. Think of a massive, musical, beautifully decorated TED talk with food, where everyone gets a chance to ask questions and tell their stories. It felt like a small step towards unity, towards mutual understanding and acceptance of the simple fact, that we are all the same, regardless of our countries of origin, color of our skin or the melody of our different languages.
I later moved to beautiful San Diego, California, where joined by a new partner and The Women’s Museum of California, I produced the “Women of Central Asia in Art” event. The event was build around the life and work of 4 female artists from Uzbekistan. How women of the region preserved certain art forms and shaped them over the centuries, how art became their only way of expression in a rigid, patriarchic culture. We screened a gorgeous new film by an Uzbek-American female director, an American professor of ethnomusicology from Santa Cruz, gracefully agreed to perform at the event and played the traditional music instrument, called-dutar and ‘lit’ the show! Ethnic food, provided by the Uzbek community members was served. I showed images of Uzbek women at work, I captured over the years, told the stories of women of my family, who made great sacrifices just to be seen for who they are, and not only as domestic workers and bearers of future generations of men for men. One of them, being my great-grandmother, who did not have neither my privileges nor my opportunities, so I simply can not take them for granted.
Around the same time I started painting again, something I haven’t done in years. Participated in a major group show at one of Portland’s oldest Art galleries. My painting made the Gallery window, it was a very proud moment for me.
More work followed. I started sharing it on my Instagram page (@azeema.nur), which was previously used for my travel photography only.
Then one day something amazing happened. I received an Instagram message from my long time musical idol, the brilliant sitar player Anoushka Shankar. She saw and liked one of my paintings and wanted to know if it was for sale. We met and talked. And I will never know what made this world famous, powerful personality with a giant network of artistic talent, choose me, an unknown, largely self-taught artist, to custom design covers for her new singles, but she did. It has been an unbelievable experience and an incredible honor.
I am also somewhat active as a photographer in the San Diego area. While I rarely do commercial photography, like fashion editorials and digital content shoots, my main point of interest is women and their stories. Stories of becoming, of transitions, of heartbreaks and healings. What I offer is a very private experience of self-study. I meet with my heroine, and over coffee or tea hear her out, what she is going through, how we can encapsulate this special moment in her life, to serve her as a totem of this time period for the years to come. Then I come up with a unique concept for each client and work on creating the set. Due to the very intimate nature of this experience, I do not share any images from those shoots. I keep this activity very exclusive and limited, a word-of-mouth kind of specialty service. So the women who come to me, have usually been referred by someone who has gone through this experience and found some solace in it.
I do not know if I am known for anything specific, but hopefully for being reliable and for giving my all to anything I do.
What sets me apart from others… Each individual is a unique expression of life, with a unique set of abilities, talent and vision, therefore there is nobody else like me out there as there is nobody else like you! We all need each other, we all get inspired by each other!
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Not at all. In fact, it took me years to arrive to an understanding of what my true passions in life were and what I would like to spend my life doing. When I was growing up in post-Soviet Union, times were difficult and uncertain. Despite my clear interest and aptitude in languages and art, I chose to pursue a degree in Marketing. And although I eventually ended up doing what I have always loved, I let my constant fear of failure, of the opinions of others slow my progress down for quite a while. At this point in my life, having experienced all that I have experienced, I can say with certainty, that all the Universe wants to do is to give and give. Any dream can turn into reality, if it is stronger than our fear. Success is not rationed! There are unlimited amounts of it for all the takers, who do the work, who show up, who dare to dream, who don’t waste time thinking of how things can go wrong. The only way to find out, is to do it anyway. We are the sole writers of our stories, no one else. For me, it’s an empowering thought… that I can change my destiny anytime I want.
As for the passions themselves, however interesting they may sound, the day to day reality of things is always different. Being a self-employed multi-tasker, who works from home, while raising a family, is extremely hard. It requires strict time management and organizational skills, that do not come easily to me at all. I am a procrastinator and a perfectionist, so a lot of times I find myself in quite a pickle😊
There’s a wealth of academic research that suggests that a lack of mentors and networking opportunities for women has materially affected the number of women in leadership roles. Smart organizations and industry leaders are working to change this, but in the meantime, do you have any advice for finding a mentor and building a network?
A mentor, a guru, someone whose integrity in life and work inspires you is an important figure in one’s journey. In my opinion, it’s important to be open minded, to be willing to learn, to be able to hear, to remain humble and realize that the only thing we know, is that we know close to nothing. When you think like that, you start treating every individual along your way as a Guru, everyone has a story to tell, an experience to share, a lesson to teach.
Having said that, it is also important to be able to reach out to people who inspire you. There are many opportunities and platforms available to us these days, that can be very helpful with this. Be it Instagram, where we can follow the best of the best in our field, follow their progress and learn. Or digital workshop offerings such as the Master class series, an excellent opportunity to learn from the top experts in a variety of fields!
Contact Info:
- Phone: 971-330-8367
- Instagram: @azeema.nur
Image Credit:
Tais Photography, Zach Krahmer
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