FIZAH | Manjachen

My name is Fizah and I am a new mother of an adorable little boy. My journey as Manjachen, the artist was not a direct one as I did not start out dreaming of becoming an artist. I have always enjoyed drawing and painting as a child, participating in numerous art competitions and winning some of them. It has always been my hobby growing up. As I grow older, I started drawing and painting less, focusing on my studies, graduating with a Bachelors of Biochemistry followed by Masters in Tourism Development.

 

I later met my husband and moved to Germany to begin our lives together. The initial period of living in Germany has been tough, I didn't know anyone and was quite lonely. I was also learning the language, culture and places. I decided to start drawing and painting again. I started to sketch to recognise the places I see.

 

Sketching started to bring me comfort from being far from home and adapting to a foreign place. I also started to make friends, like-minded people who share my love of drawing and painting. I founded Urban Sketchers Erlangen so more people can discover the joys of urban sketching like I do. I take pride in founding this group and bringing people together through arts. Arts have been pivotal in my integration in Germany. Besides being a full-time mummy, arts is my other full-time job. I love capturing memories to be frozen in time through my sketches or paintings whether its buildings, places, people or events.

 

There is beauty in capturing what we see on ink, paint and paper to preserve memories. I make hand-bound sketchbooks to preserve my memories. It brings me joy to revisit my sketches and paintings and to tell the stories behind each page to my son someday. I hope I can help others encapsulate their memories through my work.