Michelle Farooqi, born in Quetta and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, has been drawing and painting since childhood, encouraged by her parents in her pursuit of art.
After immigrating to Canada, Michelle studied at the Ontario College of Art and Design in Canada. Later, in search of more traditional art instruction, Michelle joined the Academy of Realist Art in Toronto, where she learned 18th century drawing and painting techniques, and acquired expertise in the fields of portraiture, figurative painting and still life, with oil paints, charcoal and graphite.
Michelle’s first exhibition in Pakistan took place at Art Chowk, Karachi, in 2012, where she displayed four portraits in a group portraiture exhibition, using oils and charcoal.
Later, her long-time interest in landscape painting led to a period of self-study in that genre. After a successful first exhibition of landscape paintings in soft pastels at Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore, Michelle expanded her skills to include oil pastels and once again exhibited her new paintings, and two pen-and-ink drawings, of which ‘Tree and Trail’ [that appeared in Out of Print 31 was one, at Alhamra Art Gallery, from 11-13 September, 2017.