New and improved: Melding tradition with innovation

Komal Shahid Khan reinvents miniatures in her solo show at Artscene Galleries

KARACHI: Twenty-five-year-old Komal Shahid Khan has reimagined artistic miniatures. "I am obsessed with moving visuals, like the colour in water, waves in the ocean or the smoke arising from a fire," she explained.

Khan's work combines this obsession with moving visuals and the timeless art of miniatures to create wispy renditions of Mughals and animals with swirls surrounding them. Her exhibition, 'Imagined Immortals', at Artscene Galleries brings this dream narrative to the fore.



A master's graduate of Rawalpindi's Fatima Jinnah Women's University's fine arts programme, Khan is a distinction holder for her thesis work in which she used the same technique.

"I characterised my work like lyrics, where I believe [the beat] lies in moving. There is continuity in the moving eye, as in imagination. I believe immortals don't die and imaginations don't die," she said, speaking about her show.

Having received a warm and what she terms a 'vibrant reception' at the opening of her first solo show in Karachi, she said, "The Karachi audience is geared towards art but does critique it as well. Probably because Karachi now has numerous galleries and the city itself is a hub of galleries!"

Belonging to the Pahari school of thought in miniature paintings, she loves to toy with the mediums of neem rang and gad rang in her collection.



Khan praised her parents Jamila and Shahid Waheed, both of whom are artists in their own right, and even her teacher Ustad Mohammad Saleh Changezi, from whom she learnt this art form.

Finally, she expressed her hope that the miniature form of painting will not die out but digitalised and experimental formats must also continue. "There must be fusion but one must never leave the traditional part," she said.

The show continues at Artscene Galleries till November 3.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2016.