“Switch!” Nomad Gallery (September 2005)
How great it would be to have the ability to read another persons mind, and how catastrophic at the same time… Works of art are probably the closest one gets to opening the doors, or more appropriately in this case, the windows to ones psyche. What keeps me awake at night and drives me to make these strange objects that we call “art”, is the great irony of this world we live in and the stringent polarities we humans create out of something that is simply a united whole. Male Female… East West… Christian Muslim… Looking into the faces of the people populating these works, religion and even gender are hard and in many cases impossible to recognize. Their eyes (if uncovered…) allude simply and anonymously to the oh so familiar experience of emotion, so common to all of us. Although at heart I am a painter, my convictions have lead me to use more immediate forms to express my ideas. Together with painting, text and photographic means have been a dominant aspect of my work. It is more crucial for me to convey an important message rather than be praised for the mere stylistic qualities of my work. Pakistani ancient and popular culture in the form of mehandi has been a great source of inspiration for this, my latest group of work. I have combined the decorative density of mehandi with the political austerity of global symbols in order to raise some questions about our times. In this age where one can only be “with or against”, the idea of “good and bad” is being defined for us. I therefore invite you to touch the switch and dare to shed light on a different way of thinking about what is good and what is allegedly bad. I will leave the interpretation up to you…