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Radio 4,13 Jun 2016,30 mins

Imtiaz Dharker

A Portrait Of...

Available for over a year

We follow artist Fiona Graham-Mackay as she paints the portrait of poet, artist and documentary film-maker Imtiaz Dharker. Born in Pakistan and raised in Glasgow, Imtiaz was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in 2014. She writes about freedom, cultural intolerance, gender politics, love and loss. Fellow poet Carol Ann Duffy has said, "If there were to be a World Laureate, then for me the role could only be filled by Imtiaz Dharker." Fiona Graham-Mackay has painted hundreds of portraits, including Seamus Heaney and Sir Andrew Motion. Drawing is, she says, "the flow of life, the soul of life," and "you have to fall a little in love with your subject". It's a revealing, intimate experience, peeling away the layers to capture the essence of the sitter as seen through the artist's eye. And in this, conversations meander in unexpected places. Features readings of 'The Conversation' and 'Invisible' from Over the Moon; 'This room' from I Speak For the Devil, both published by Bloodaxe Books. With permission. Producer: Eve Streeter A Pier production for 麻豆社 Radio 4.

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