Izan Tahir, UK and Malaysia based printmaker, has practised and refined her craft for decades. Her artmaking is an intersection of studio-based work with graphic design sensibilities – she was formerly responsible for corporate and national portfolios. With the print medium, Izan underlays her control and expertise by drawing from a memory archive of extensive travels, channelling her understanding of world cultures and lived experience into artistic imaginings.

1 ‘Home is not where you are born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.’ Naguib Mahfouz
Izan and I were having lunch at Carluccio’s, Spitalfields when she spoke about her childhood; memories of travelling and living in the different states of Malaysia. Giving her a familiarity with the country that lives in her mind, given the continuous changes to the landscape. At the same time, she told me about early visits to a foreign place, to London, as a child. Eventually, Izan left her birth country and spent extended periods in the United Kingdom, absorbing world cultures and shaping her worldview. Over time, Izan became more transnational with ties to both countries and societies, living and transgressing across borders. Her Malaysian values and beliefs integrated with London practices and a sense of belonging, which developed into a personal view. Where both places are equally important, connected and yet separate. Izan’s home is a combination of locations, of places and not about being in one place or another.*

2 ‘You need a village if only for the pleasure of leaving it.’ Cesare Pavese
Izan's studio in Malaysia is also her family home, where she grew up. On a humid day a few years ago, I asked her how she felt, seeing the place change. She replied the place contained a lot of memories, but changes were necessary for current needs. In recent years, the site has undergone a significant refurbishment to turn it into a proper art studio. She also spends equal amounts of time in another studio elsewhere — a place she prefers to retain as a private sanctuary. The well-equipped studios are places that wait for Izan, ready to serve her needs when she works in solitude or with an assistant. The studios are both familiar to her; the interiors, equipment, materials, all carefully planned and organised according to the way Izan works. For those privileged to see her at the workrooms, she entertained them over cups of ground coffee — laughter often ringing in the air from shared stories. When I visited the spaces without her, they echoed the mood of their owner, whose hand is on every detail that touches the eye. Izan told me it is not about the space, but the people and conditions who create the conducive environments. That, she said, is what awaits her as she hears the studios calling for her return.

3 ‘Travel is a state of mind. It has nothing to do with existence or the exotic. It is almost always an inner experience.’ Paul Theroux
Over meals and coffee, we often shared anecdotes of our travels. It was more like me, listening to Izan recounting the different places she visited. Following the adventures of her well-travelled shoes trotting to far-reaching places – akin to pinning locations on the world map. I was absorbed with her visualisation of places like New York, India and Mecca; and how she remembered the minute details of her trips. A poignant episode was her approach to the Kaaba’s Black Stone during her pilgrimage. The ritual involved circumambulating around the Kaaba seven times. Izan said people were swarming, pushing and pulling at each other in attempts to get nearer to the Stone. She prayed she could feel it, to touch it with her hands. At this time, a window opened as people around her physically dragged each other away, providing Izan with a long moment alone with the Stone. It became one of those genuinely memorable spiritual experiences, encapsulating her memory of the hajj, connection to the Almighty, and peeling away the need for visual attractions of a place.

*Ideas derived from Peggy Levitt, ‘Transnational Migrants: When “Home” Means More Than One Country’, 1 October 2004, Migration Policy Institute, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/transnational-migrants-when-home-means-more-one-country