Today we’d like to introduce you to Ruby Jaffrey.
Hi Ruby, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
We had just moved into a new house – my husband and I were looking for contemporary Islamic Art pieces for our home. Back in 2004, there weren’t as many options for that kind of thing as there are today. Anything we did find was mostly online, traditional, and very expensive to ship internationally. We were both fans of Mark Rothko’s paintings but couldn’t afford them so we decided to buy some canvases and painted our own rendition!
That was our very first piece of art in the home – a 72″ x 48″ brown and terracotta graduated color block.
This piece was to later become the background for my second piece of work entitled “Kun Fa Ya Kun” translated to “Be and It Is”.
After that first abstract piece, I got the painting bug and continued to buy more canvases to paint on for our home. I did a large 36″ x 36″ red, black and gold piece with a golden textured orb representing the sun with “Allah”
scripted all the way around it in black. That was the very first piece I sold, literally off my own wall to a friend who had been looking for similar contemporary Islamic Art pieces for her home – that’s how it all began.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Alhamdullilah, it’s been an absolute pleasure, since this was not something I was striving to achieve. It just happened very organically and grew by the Grace of Allah SWT. I still marvel to this day how God carved out this path for me. I feel truly blessed and privileged to be on this beautiful journey.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
It took me a long time to feel comfortable calling myself an artist. With an academic background in English Literature, a professional background in PR and Advertising and then Human Resources, I felt ill qualified to peg myself as an artist with no formal qualifications in Art!
I’ve always loved interior design and I guess the pursuit to make my space reflective of all the things that meant something to me manifested itself in a creative expression of the spirituality I garnered growing up in a Pakistani, Muslim household in the West. My mother was a lecturer and Urdu Poet and my father, an Engineer who was always making things for our home. I guess they collectively nurtured in me the creativity you can see in my pieces today. A love for combining color, texture, language, structure, sacred scripture, all anchored by a constant state of being in awe of our Creator. I would like to think that I can in some way pass on this legacy to my children by making them see the beauty of our faith through art.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Being humble, grateful and always cognizant of the fact that everything is from Him, and Him alone.
My late mother, may Allah SWT elevate her soul, used to quote verse 26 of Surah Al-e-Imran of the Holy Quran which translates as,
“Say, ‘O’ Allah, Master of all sovereignty! You give sovereignty to whomsoever You wish, and strip of sovereignty to whomsoever You wish; You make honorable whomsoever You wish, and humiliate whomsoever You wish; in Your hand is all good; indeed, You have power over all things”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.rubyjaffrey.com
- Instagram: Ruby Jaffrey
- Facebook: Art By Ruby
