Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: November 03, 2021 | 
| 中文
Darkness
Dominion Gallery is presenting two artists who have spent the month of October creating artworks that push the boundaries of their own studio practice. Each artist is hosting a solo presentation of their work in the two main halls of the gallery. The shows on display are “The October Series” by Khadijah Rehman, and “Diary of an October” by Amna Suheyl. The exhibition continues till the 6th of November, 2021. The artworks are the result of the artists committing to creating something every day of the month. This art challenged gained popularity first on social media, and now is practiced throughout the global art community. Within the month the artists were committed to swift processing of their visual language, interpretation of new concepts, experimenting with print techniques and diving into an alternative methodology of creating. The motivation to assign an entire month is the recipe for a catalyst to achieve an artistic breakthrough. A revelation that was perhaps hidden due to habitual and premeditated decisions involved in creating a large body of work.
The Dream
Rehman has emerged with an illustrative series of handcrafted tales packed with powerful Mughal era protagonists engaged in introspective moments, surrounded by traditional motifs taken from the miniature painting. The display is meticulously designed by Rehman using powerful symmetry, the formation of the work has a cinematic presence allowing the viewer to walk into each piece with accompanying prose by the artist. There is a purposeful mystery behind each painting that is further amplified with Rehman’s intimate journaling. She has written about each piece with delicacy and affection for her characters, their experiences and constructed reality.
The Carnival
Similar to the role of a writer and director, Rehman has orchestrated a theatrical visual production staging each story from within an infinite starry night. We recognize these scenes as echoes from centuries of miniature traditions that the artist has traversed in order to collect and render as her own. “The Carnival” has a formation of three male figures that are instantly recognizable as traditional miniature, yet the bright and quirky fairy lights, the green parrots with red envelopes and fireworks transport the viewer to a familiar memory from modern present-day festivities. The lucid color composition of “The Dream” has a joyful sensibility showing a young protagonist peacefully flying through the sky. The neon glow in these miniatures is carefully used to illuminate nighttime sequences, “The Garden At Night” and “The Dialogue” highlight how the artist creates a romantic painterly connection between her characters and nature. The hand-painted gold leaf motifs anchor the entire composition, Rehman uses a gilded moon in the background in various phases that relays a sense of time to each story. Her written reflections allow the viewer to join her discoveries creating a telescope to view each painting from her lens. This lighthearted subversion of traditional miniature helps dismantle the egotism of high art that is associated with classical painting.
The Garden At Night
The artist has laid down a path for the viewer to follow, the female protagonists in the series are shown as solitary figures in “The Quiet”, “The Hidden” and “The Forgotten” that are created as a response to questions that the artist is asking herself about how to process the need for validation. Rehman uses the construction of each of these works as a space to understand her own psychology and the jarring realities of the human condition. The women in “The Dialogue”, “Act 1”, “The Evening Tea” and “Soft”, are in pairs challenging predictable tropes about womanhood.
The Evening Tea
Rehman uses her writing to dig deeper into these visual representations offering a modernistic interpretation that is more independent, expressive and alive as compared to the classically rehearsed understanding of women in miniature. The presence of beautiful miniature borders, historical architecture, painterly foliage and clouds and mystical creatures come together as a complete visual experience.
The Matter
You may also like:
