Last year was difficult for everyone. I wrote a blog talking about what I had experienced in 2020. Well what did I learn from last year? I recognised the fragility of humankind and also its strength, what was important to me and how if we stick together we can accomplish anything. I hope this year we can start our lives from a different perspective, learning from our past and amending our future as a result.

I pray that we come together as one, without judgement, after all we are all we have and if we cannot live together and respect each other’s right to sovereignty over our own lives, allow individuals to have an opinion that we may not agree with then how are we going to move forward as one? Surely an evolved human race would be a patient, calm, understanding and accommodating one, a society that loves and supports one another so that we can be the best version of ourselves.

I wish for the best for all of you, I choose abundance in freedom, love, health, success and happiness for everyone. Look after yourselves and one another.
 
Much love
Samira 😊

‘I love experimenting with colour’
Posted by apc1606


Samira Butt

Rotherham Open Arts Renaissance (ROAR) chief executive SHARON GILL talks to artist Samira Butt
THERE has been a great deal of attention in recent years around everyday creativity, all those actions we may do naturally that we do not think of as being expressive. The Arts Council’s new 10 year strategy, Let’s Create, highlights this even further by embedding the idea into their three outcomes: Creative People, Cultural Communities and A Creative and Cultural Country.
Samira Butt is potentially the embodiment of that ethos, as a self-taught artist with no formal training beyond O-Level but with ambitions for a creative career.
I wanted to talk to Samira because she had just launched a new website – https://www.arimasarts.com/ – which is something many trained and mid-career artists do not do for themselves, partially because you need to generate an artist statement which is a challenging thing to do, to write about yourself.
We begin with the decision to move their family to Rotherham in 2004, from nearby Tinsley. Samira and her husband have three sons who at one time were in different schools, and due to catchment areas and a reorganisation of the school system, the school run became a trial, so moving to Rotherham helped to minimise the travelling time.
This also meant one of their sons could take the performing arts opportunities offered through Open Minds Theatre Company, which at that time was a thriving organisation. As supportive parents, this led to getting involved in the delivery of the Diversity Festival. In fact when I started at ROAR and began the journey with the Diversity Festival, both Samira’s husband and son were on the management committee...

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‘I love experimenting with colour’


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 ThI painted this about a year ago when I was practising figure drawing. At that time my sister in-law was opening up her own business selling organic produce and offering holistic therapies. She inspired me to think about how I could show the beauty of living off the land and eating food fresh from the ground.

I really admire native African people who live harmoniously with their environment, being able to thrive in areas we would consider inhospitable. Their knowledge of the land and how they can use the local flora and fauna to survive in any situation is awe inspiring. I love how they are in tune with the seasons and the bounty that they bring. It makes me wonder how little I know of the land I live in and would I be able to thrive as comfortably as they do in their environment without supermarkets and NHS? Are we really evolved as we think we are? We rely heavily on others to maintain our lifestyle, which can be worrying when you think about it. In the olden days people knew how to heal themselves using local plants. They knew how to hunt and forage for food to survive. We do not have a clue about any of those things. I believe this knowledge is important and have decided to take a course in foraging. Anyway, just something to think about.

Here is the painting depicting a beautiful African woman taking home an abundance of food fresh from the field for her family. This woman is not only beautiful on the outside, but also within. Her spirit is strong, resilient. There are not limits to her kindness and grace. Courage and honour is her natural state. She is mara mma, beautiful. ‘Mara mma’ means beautiful in the Igbo language of Africa.

Take care
Samira :) 

​Anyway, as lock down began to ease around August we managed to take a road trip to Scotland, one of my favourite places in the UK. This time we explored more of the west coast. Well what can I say we started our trip with a bang on a zip wire at Laggan outdoor activity centre. The jeep ride that took us to the top of the hill was the cherry on top. Basically, I have never ever experienced such a rough ride in my life. What a blast, but I wouldn’t have missed it for the world despite having acrophobia (just google it 😉). Zipping over fields with my legs wide open and trying hard not to behead the cows below me was a once in a lifetime experience. 

​We stayed at Glasgow then travelled up north to Inveraray Castle where we encountered one of the most majestic places I have ever visited. A sublime place, so serene, where you can easily lose yourself. Our next destination was Fort William where we had a little light lunch. From there we went across to the Isle of Skye hoping to see some fairies, but no luck. We took the ferry to a beautiful fishing village called Mallaig. We watched the glorious sunset from a restaurant next to the sea. The following day we travelled to the famous Glenfinnan viaduct, or for you and me the famous Harry Potter Bridge.

​What can I say, the midges mistook us for food and attacked us so fiercely that we could not stay there for more than a few minutes.  Our next destination was Inverness, the capital of the Highlands, a quaint city, but unfortunately Nessy did not want to make an appearance.  From there we decided to go to John O’ Groats, just to say we had been there. Finally, we finished our road trip in Edinburgh. This is where I celebrated my birthday in style at Dishoom an Indian restaurant, with my family. A perfect ending to a perfect holiday. 

​So, all in all this trip made my year. I suppose this year has had its ups too, Covid gave us some respite during its takeover of our lives. On the bright side, I have spent a lot of time outside, in the garden, enjoying the beautiful warm weather playing scrabble so much that I was dreaming up words in my sleep.

Take care and stay safe. Much love…
Samira 😊