Today we’d like to introduce you to Shorna Haque
Hi Shorna, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I’m a Bangladeshi girl who is originally from the DFW area and moved to Austin in 2015, and I always strive to create work that feels not only personal to me but also fits my vision of how I want to be perceived by others while bleeding in bits and pieces of my inner workings. I think oftentimes people see me as a sort of fairy-like creature that exists in this ever-growing city, which means that plan is totally working (haha) – but in all seriousness, I like to create work that I know I would have loved to see created more often when I was a kid.
I love to create work that makes me feel good in the moment, and also be as vulgar as I want to be. I am a very queer, sex positive, body positive, and vulgar person who loves to talk about my hedonistic desires just as much as I love to talk about movies, video games, and any other special interests of mine, and I want my art to be able to portray that. Sex is fun and a lot of people are having it, so yes, I want to talk about it (and not always behind closed quarters)! Our bodies are beautiful and look exactly as they should no matter our sizes and shapes, and I want to be a voice in our society that can help normalize that thought process. I grew up in a conservative household where any talk about sex or anything that was related to it was very taboo, and so when I got out of that living situation and was able to move out on my own, I was able to finally live my life even more authentically than I have ever dreamed. This is also why I always say that aging is something that I welcome with open arms – for me, getting older has always meant me gaining my freedom.
I have my friends to thank for a lot of my successes as well. Thanks to events like Red Light Lit and Bodies of Work, hosted by my friends Loria Mendoza and Leah Bury, I was able to start having my art up in actual shows beginning in 2022. Since then I’ve been a part of multiple art events, whether that means having actual work displayed in a show or doing live modeling for paintings. I have also really embraced being a muse for a lot of my friends over the years, and it’s been an absolute joy! I’ve modeled for a couple of paintings, magazines, zines, and for Slow Fashion Fest in Austin, and much more, and I’m always trying to find new avenues to explore my creativity as well. I’ve been kind of wanting to explore acting as of recent, and I have a goal of being cast in a Mike Flanagan film one day (I’m a big time film lover and Flanagan is a master of his craft in the horror genre in my opinion). I think becoming a scream queen is very much in my realm of possibility!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I was young, I didn’t really know of many body positive, sex positive, and openly queer artists that were also Bangladeshi who I could turn to as role models, and so I struggled a lot with feeling like an imposter in a field of work that I really wanted to be a part of. I always felt as if because I’m not the typical cookie-cutter conventionally attractive girl who also happens to make really cool art, I just didn’t deserve to be taken seriously. Obviously in hindsight that isn’t true at all and diversity in the art world is more necessary than ever, but it can be easy to let our own mental processes hold us back at times.
I also have struggled a lot with mental health and burnout over the years, and that has held me back plenty. When I was in high school, I was in a Studio Art program where I did learn a lot, but I also got burned out very quickly from having the pressure to constantly produce art for school, which doesn’t coincide well with someone who only finds enjoyment in producing art at my own pace and time. That’s why, after high school, I basically tried to abandon the art world and got a degree in Advertising at UT Austin (which I never ended up using haha). While doing so, though, I never was really happy, and to my own surprise, found myself gradually entering into the art scene in Austin right after college. I like to think the universe has somehow injected a creative spirit into my bloodstream and there’s no point in trying to hide it.
I do struggle a lot with body dysmorphia as well, and I’ve joked with my partner in the past about how if I were to ever meet my clone in-person, I wouldn’t even recognize her. I definitely have better days than others, and I think that’s also why I really enjoy being a muse for my artist friends – it gives me a chance to see how I look in their eyes and helps me almost ground myself when I may be having a particularly bad mental health day. I think a lot of people see my internet presence and think that I’m a being that oozes overwhelming confidence, but at the end of the day that’s just the face that you get to see behind a screen – I’m just a girl who is trying her best. That being said, however, I hope that through my work and my online presence, I’m able to help other folks who struggle with their own bodies, queer identities, and sexualities find love and solace within themselves, and help them realize that even if we may not be feeling our best at times, we are all still so hot and perfect and literal statuesque art muses who have a chokehold on all of humanity.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I like to experiment and do whatever I’m feeling in the moment! A lot of my own personal work is created with simple items like markers and pens, and I’ve been really enjoying drawing on furniture pieces as of late, especially on lamp shades. I go out and buy used lamp shades at Goodwill along with lamp bases, and then use fabric markers to doodle all over them! It makes for having really unique and one-of-a-kind furniture around the house. I also enjoy creating collaborative work with my friends a lot!
One of my absolute favorites was being able to be a part of Leah Bury’s “Dear Body” project, and writing a love letter to my body that helped me realize how much shame I’ve kept in my body for so long, and helped serve almost as a release for myself. I also have enjoyed working on collaborative projects with my partner, Jannah, many times in the past, especially when doing photography projects or video projects. We’ve filmed two projects together in particular with one titled “Rosé Eros” that celebrates the sensuality of love, and then another titled “How to Summon a Succubus for Dummies” that follows the sapphic love story of a little curious witch summoning her very own succubus as a lover. I’ve also worked with my friend Hayden Sutherland in the past on creating a photography project on exploring solo pleasure, and we did another photography piece together that was featured at Slow Fashion Fest in 2022.
As for what I’m most well known for, I think that aspect would fall particularly into modeling. I’ve modeled for Peachfuzz Magazine for their 29th Issue of their magazine, and I was also featured in their 2024 calendar. I always enjoy working with them- they’re the absolute sweetest! I’ve also modeled for Poor Baby Fashion for when their clothing line was featured in Sidecar Junkaroo Magazine, and I’ve modeled for many of my artist friends, with Shannon Purcell’s work being some of the most intricate I have ever seen in my life. Their work makes my jaw drop every single time I lay my eyes on it, and I feel so honored to be able to be their muse. I was also painted by Lisa Drips in the past, and that painting was on the cover of the zine for Bodies of Work II, which was super cool! Holly Cerna has also been an absolute dream to work with while she was painting me as a live model, she’s such a joy and magnificent artist. I’ve also been enjoying nude figure modeling more often as of late – I’ve been wanting to embrace my body more in its natural form and I feel as if, by doing this, it allows me to not only offer other artists a chance to practice drawing someone with a more curvy figure, but it also offers me a chance to get more comfortable in my own skin. I am also a believer that there aren’t many ways to live forever, but art is definitely one of them. To be painted and immortalized by so many incredible artists is such a high honor, I can’t even begin to thank all of you for giving me such a big place in your lives. Thank you, truly.
I have my moments where I feel like an outsider in the art world to this day due to, as I’ve said in the past, being a desi (which is someone of South Asian descent) person in a city whose art field doesn’t have many other desi folks, but I try to look at it as an opportunity for growth and for offering some much needed representation. I hope that I can, in some way or form, inspire other young desi kids to explore the art world and embrace their queerness and just generally not feel so alone.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
This actually hits home for me because I’ve had to risk a lot of my past comfortable life to be who I am today. In the conservative home I grew up in, homosexuality was considered a huge taboo and I had always known that being open about my sexuality would have the possibility of putting me in danger. Then, just a little while after I started to become more of a public figure in the art community in Austin, along with in the queer party scene, I was outed to my family, and of course that did not blow over well one bit and I’ve now been no contact with my family for a couple of years. The situation I got into with them turned dangerous very quickly, so I had no other choice but to cut the rope for good.
However, I personally plan to keep it that way because, although I get really distraught at times during traditional “family friendly” holidays, I would never trade the life that I have now with my partner and my overall freedom to be my most authentic self for anything. I grew up thinking I would never be able to have any visible tattoos, never be able to wear whatever I want, never be able to leave the house to hang out with my friends at night, never be able to have a girlfriend who I loved dearly, and just never be able to actually be who I want to be. It has all been worth it. I’m so much happier living my life now, and although I wouldn’t wish the type of turbulence I’ve had to go through in my life on anyone, I can say that it makes me feel proud to be where I am today. I love being alive and living happily with my cats and my lover and friends, and I love to create art with all of them.
I think being a risk-taker is necessary in life if you ever want to be able to become a fully authentic version of yourself, but I also believe that it is something that, if you’re able, should be taken with caution, and when you know you’ll have a safe space to exist if things go sideways. I think that my situation is definitely more on the extreme end, but that doesn’t mean it’s not applicable to many other people’s experiences. Just know you’re important, you’re special, you’re beautiful, and you’re loved.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://beacons.ai/silkyshroom
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/silkyshroom
- Twitter: https://x.com/silkyshroom
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@silkyshroom
Image Credits
Leah Bury, Shannon Purcell, Jannah, Holly Cerna, Loria Mendoza, Peachfuzz Magazine, Laura McNairy, Lisa Drips
