Each Canvas (framed) L: 38" x H: 74"
India Ink, Acrylic on Canvas

These paintings are artifacts created during reflections on the passage of time. They embrace and celebrate the continuous nature of existence and the cycle of birth and death, and the marks therein are both affirmations of being, as well as visual expressions of mortality and memory. Created during the first Covid-related lockdown of 2020, the works became a means of the artist celebrating his own breath while reciting a prayer for the dead, for those who could not breathe because of the illness.

Each mark transitions between presence and absence, a journey of brushstrokes, and an exercise in continually embracing and letting-go of each moment. The marks culminate in eight paintings, each becoming a tablet featuring calligraphy without words, vibrating and reverberating in a visual expressions of prayer.

“I believe that time is what shapes all that we are, and all that we know. As each moment passes, I breathe, I grow, I die. To me, these brushstrokes visualize the breath of this changing universe. They pay tribute to its pulse, lending a form to the rhythm of time.”

These paintings were featured in two exhibitions:
In Stillness and Traces of the Traceless

All photos are property of Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design