ARTIST'S STATEMENT

My fascination with the repetitive components of Islamic art — patterns and design — has led me to my current direction. Using repetition and pattern, the individual dots (nuqtas) of each work combine to achieve larger, more exciting compositions. The images that shape my American Pakistani art have been hovering at the outer edges of my consciousness for several years. It took a casual trip to North Africa for everything to take on a new clarity in my imagination. My inspiration stems from visual images that once were seen daily but are now part of history. In my Pakistani paintings, the forms and elements I draw upon become seeds for stimulation. The aim is not to capture those images faithfully, but use them as triggers to take me on paths all my own. My work is about discourse with history, about issues of identity and culture.

My technique involves tiny brush strokes and lines in close proximity to create a sense of "activity" when the paintings are examined closely. From a distance, however, they give the perception of "sublimeness." These qualities permeate traditional Islamic art. Applying these innumerable points and strokes have an esoteric and meditative quality for me — that of how each atom exists in its own right and collectively come together to shape the universe. Each dot can also be a breath or a fleeting thought that comes together to form our existence.