lambader

"This portfolio is dedicated to her Family and Friends. She wants them to know how much she loves them and apologizes for the distance between them."

Farrah Hosein was born in Trinidad and Tobago in 1983 on the beautiful island of the Caribbean. She lived in Trinidad for thirteen years; Boca Raton, Florida, for three years; Lousiana for two years; Del Rio, Texas, for three years; Wimberley, Texas for two years; and San Marcos, Texas, for seven years. As you can imagine the drastic difference in climate and terrain in these regions. She admired the tropical rainforest, mountains, beaches, waterfalls, swamps, prehistoric cypress trees, desert sunsets, exotic cactus plants, and hill country. She found peace in the hill country due to it's green landscape and crystal clear river. Her thirst to live near water was quenched by the beautiful Edwards Aquifer spring fed river that ran through the town.

Her passion for art exploded at age six years old when she confiscated her mother's study and turned it into her art studio. Her mom got an encyclopedia set from A to Z of all the arts and crafts children can create. Their were 26 books in the collection each containing about 30 pages. With dedication, at age seven years old she completed all the exercises in the collection over nine months. Numerous times she fell asleep on the study floor dazedly looking at the mountains through the balcony glass doors. Art was an escape to indulge, create, and test herself.

Later on at age nine years old, her brother started high school and came home with acylic and oil painting homework. As a team, her mom and herself helped him finish his art work when he was too exhausted. She got a taste of painting, carving, and drawing with ink. Her brother and her later on had friendly supportive competitions of who could draw the best. Their competitions usually lasted hours whether it was in art, video games, playing cards, fixing appliances, or creating fun inventions inside the house such as a swing on the staircase.

She was a very considerate and unusual child. For Christmas, she would secretly wrap books, toys, and clothes found in her home that was rarely used. Then give them to her aunts, uncles and cousins when they met at her granny's house to feast. One could imagine the surprise look on her mother's face when she saw everyone open their gifts.

At twelve years old she passed the Common Entrance Exam for the fourth best all girls high school in Trinidad called, "Providence Girls' Catholic College." She received an excellent education encompassing business management, accounts, literature, algebra, biology, French, Spanish, fine arts, sports, and geography etc. At a young age many kids, like her, faced the challenge to pass for one of the top ten high schools or to not attend high school due to the coed schools being too violent and corrupted. Most kids would work in the family business, attend a private or trade school, or find employment as a second option.

During these times she drew her inspiration from walking through the streets with her family during carnival. Her granny made sweet spicy tamarind balls, kurma and sold drinks to the spectators and band members. There were about 10 bands with approximately 100 to 500 people per band, the amount varied according to it's popularity and costume design. On other occasions she would spend Easter by her aunt's beach house with most of her family, such as her aunts, uncles, mother, brother and cousins. They would swim in the beach from morning till sun set, catch crab in the jungle using hot pepper and bamboo traps, dig the sand for chip chip and fry it up, explore the beach's natural vegetation and "pulled sail" (A process of 30 people pulling on a rope attached to a net full of fish about 30 yards from the shore. If you helped the local people they would give you your choice of fish to take home.) Apart from attending school and dealing with everyday life, these occasions were treats for her to explore and create adventures with her cousins.

In 1999, she moved to Louisiana and felt week as she said by to her country and extended family. She never thought she would leave and as a kid had no desire to do so. She attended Comeaux High School in Lafayette and was held back from graduation by three years. The recruiter and principal did not want to test her or accept her high school transcript from Trinidad. Despondent about her situation she spent most of her time creating art, writing poetry, and competing against her brother to pass the time.

Two years later, Christmas of 2001 she moved to Del Rio, TX, with just her mom and stepdad. Homesick for her island and missing her brother, she found new hobbies such as photography, fantasy art and psychology. After many years of unsurety and hard times she finally graduated from High School in 2003. She won Congressional Recognition for a slogan contest and had her photo published in the local newspaper.

In 2004, Farrah was accepted by Texas State University into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program specialized in Communication Design. She learned typography design, digital art, figure drawing, advertising, pottery, color theory, editorial illustration and many other fields. The degree focused on advertising both in print and digital. It was always important to her to create art that enlightened and challenged her abilities even if it kept her up all night. To her disappoint, she realized that the degree was focused on deadlines more than skills and practice. Her graduation was delayed due to disagreeing with how the school treated her after she paid so much money to get an education from the teachers she admired. It was a reality check for her. Her family faced hard times when they were attacked in Trinidad and she focused on them more than school due to family coming first. She studied for hours on U.S. immigration law practices in order to help her family fight multiple court cases. During these times, she felt torn and had to rebuild herself confidence and priorities.

In 2012, Farrah graduated with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Design and Minor in Sociology.
Her art has always been her inspiration and port of freedom to illustrate the creative ideas in her mind. She calls it "A projector for the mind."

As of 2013, she is searching for career or volunteer opportunities possibly in an Animation, Game or Children Book illustration studio. Her goal is to create fantasy characters and environments in print and digital. One day she hopes to publish her full biography collaged with her art.

Her boyfriend has been her support in pursuing her goals and her friendly rival in playing video games, card games, and inventing new ideas of how to make society better. Their discussions help her realize how the simple things in life that enlighten us are the most important because it builds compassion and respect for those around you.

She wish to thank all of her family for wonderful memories that made her the person she is today and would like them to know she always thinks of them and loves them dearly.