Chipped oil pastels spill out of a weathered box surrounded by colourful spools of sewing thread. A stick-and-paste mood board starring Madras checks , Arabic typography, Victorian stamps and drag queens sits rolled up beside a low-lit laptop screen. Dressed in a baby tee and sweats, Ramisha Sattar sits hunched over this tableau, shuffling between virtual world-building and what tangibly exists in front of her.
One minute, she’s splicing and shading photos of Rekha and Dolly Parton on her screen with a magic brush. The next, the same pictures are printed to be embroidered and doodled over. “Crafts have always been a big part of my life.
I love scrapbooking and sending snail mail to my friends. I also collect vintage Valentine’s cards and block-printed fabric,” says the Pakistani American artist, who derives creative satisfaction by honouring her blended heritage. “I like mixing desi influences with the West and combining traditional collages with more technical skills like animation and Photoshop.
” Lean in closer and you’ll see this multiplicity smeared all over the 25-year-old’s kaleidoscopic universe. By day, she is the art director at Chani Nicholas’s eponymous—and Oprah-approved— astrology app, designing everything from cosmic-hued product pages to witchy tarot decks. After hours, the Los Angeles-based multimedia artist transforms into a fairy godmother who swishes and flicks her wand, creating a new world for everyone’s favourite pop star, Chappel.
