ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YOULIN MAGAZINE
Tracing the complexities of life’s experiences in an art practice can be a daunting and precarious task that challenges the tenacity of any artist in pursuit of understanding metaphysical realities. The coming together of these emotive visualisations by female artists Anushka Rustomji, Bibi Hajra, Emaan Mahmud and Natasha Malik are showcased in the group exhibition titled “Unwritten” at Satrang Gallery. The series of works produced by each artist explores themes of mysticism, reincarnation, alternate existences and the transcendental nature of the self. Their painterly interpretations of personal history, collective scripture and the politics of identity are seen through a lens of authenticity, devotion, passion and resilience in seeking their unique truths.
Bibi Hajra’s tapestries are composed of multidirectional tableaus of attendees of the shrines she visits. There is a grouping of people carefully drawn and painted by the artist nestled into various parts of the space all engaged in their own hypnotic remembrances in the form of various rituals and activities. The shrine seen in the “Bibi” series is based on the actual site of Bibian Pak Daman located in Lahore. In her search for the generational discourses on Bibi Ruqqaiya and her companions, the artist considers the legendary events passed down as stories in the community. The red and green colour fields act as a veil between the earthly world and the one beyond connected through the collective belief of the community. In these picturesque scenes, there is a duality of serenity and chaos, the green denotes peace and tranquility, whereas the red a nightmarish atmosphere closer to death and mourning. The artist deeply resonates with these meditations on the past lives of saints as a medium for actively understanding the interconnectedness between nature and humanity.
Seeking the origins of a deep-rooted truth comes from the visual unearthing of the body paired with seductive flora and fauna in Natasha Malik’s artworks. By pairing the naturalistic elements of growth and tissue, she creates a gravitational pull in her work that feels combative and nurturing. The fragility between rupture and birth can be felt in her triptych “The Birth of Eve Series I, II & III'', where the x-rayed image of an empty ribcage is flooded with the emergence of purple flowers with luminescent tones drawing in the viewer for a closer examination. The surgical dread caused by the x-ray treatment of the body lined with the mysterious appearance of the flowers explores mortality when faced with an illness such as cancer. In the painting, “The thorny plant which grew in her throat pierced her flowering thoughts”, there are multiple motifs that resemble a human organ within which two figures are embedded. The ghostly nature of these figures feels surreal as they create a plethora of narratives open to the interpretation of the viewer. The artist has painted herself in the painting “The Goddess Parastoo Slaying the Evil Tree of Tongues”, where she can be seen as a celestial archer in combat. The scene is explosive as the viewer can see the long roots of the tree and the branches in motion. There are repeating visual symbols in Natasha’s works where the eye acts as a portal into these psychologically charged scenes. In her film titled “The mirror glazed inward and caught a brief glimpse of another life in an illusion of infinite, in the eye of a dream”, there are whimsical collages that the artist creates using herself as the main protagonist in a sequence of eerie and enigmatic scenes.
The use of figurative narration is central to Anushka Rustomji’s drawings as she treats the body as an emotional entity. The visual gateway of each fictionalised deity allows the viewer to enter into a subconscious reality of the artist. An alternate style of storytelling is created to showcase a variety of iconographies, symbolisms and literary motifs, which bring the viewer closer to understanding the psychology of the artist. The artist uses the technique of morphing objects belonging to mythology, remixing them with multiple cultures, regions and timelines. In “Adorned Yakshi Flower Tree”, “Botanical Harappan Figurine”, “Dancing Yakshini Mermaid”, “Harappan Bird Figurine” & “Harappan Tree Figurine” hanging together on one wall, depict her unapologetic references in creating her own collection of fossilised artefacts.
The departure from representational forms in Emaan Mahmud’s paintings uses colour and texture to create movement, depth and direction. The central object is dense, layered and controlled, with an immediacy of colour application where the brushstrokes carry a variety of weight and volume of paint. The artist creates harmony within the paintings by using a controlled range of colours using teal, blues and greens. The energy of the works is created through the vast sublime colour backgrounds through which a central entity emerges holding details of splatters and treated sections of texture. The artist relates the composing of the works with the conflicting emotions experienced in learning to accept yourself against all environmental odds of restriction, rejection and dismissal. In her painting “A mystical memory”, there is a kind of portrait present at the center with an inviting intimacy drawing in the viewer. The painting “A pigment of my imagination”, has carefully layered delicate layers of paint with staining and chromatographic treatment of the surface that is hypnotic. The series of paintings begin to resemble marine maps or an underwater viewing of coral reefs that carry a sense of ageing. The viewer can read into these details, piecing them together like a jigsaw puzzle according to their own personal experiences and visual sensibilities.
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