Art from within...

Ruheena Malik keeps the tradition of Islamic calligraphy alive.

As I purposefully make my way into the plush confines of Karachi’s Saffron Restaurant for a tête-à-tête with calligrapher and restaurant owner Ruheena Malik, I conjure up a mental image of a posh, high maintenance lady with all the airs and graces that too often come with success and privilege.

Warm, candid and delightfully unassuming with a child-like innocence that is highly endearing, Ruheena turns out to be the polar opposite of what I was expecting.

An impassioned soul with a deep yearning to find a greater meaning in life, Ruheena began her foray into the world of calligraphy in 1996, spurred by a compelling desire to explore the hidden intricacies behind the words in the Holy Quran.

Born to a Pakistani father and a half-Danish mother, she was unable to decipher the meaning behind the Arabic verses, yet was determined to pay homage to her Muslim heritage. One fine day, when she was still living in London, she opened up the Quran and sought to express her devotion by scripting it on paper. It was love at first write.

“It was a magical, life-changing experience for me,” exclaims Ruheena. “As clichéd as it may sound, I knew then that I had found my calling. For me, it was destiny.” She believes with the utmost conviction that her self-acquired calligraphic skills came about as a result of divine intervention. She correlates her experience with that of Paul Gauguin’s who never touched a paint-brush in his early life, and only fully blossomed as an artist when he was in his thirties.

“Although I started out much later than I would have liked to, I know now that I was always destined to do this,” she says. To her, it is as if her lack of formal training is more a boon than a burden. “Since I’m not bound by the rules that limit most trained calligraphers, whenever I pick up my pencil to script a Quranic verse, I have no preconceived notion of where the lines will take me. Instead, I have a free hand and am guided spiritually with the sole aim of drawing attention to Allah’s message by making it colourful, vibrant and lively,” she says, a note of undisguised joy entering her voice.

And so, whether the verses are sketched on canvas, carved on wood or woven into fabric, Ruheena’s flawlessly sculpted calligraphic pieces give voice to a desire that seems to resonate from deep within as she pours her entire being into her creations. When she works, she is oblivious to the world around her, spending days and even months at a time perfecting a single piece of art.

With a serious passion for collecting antiques, Ruheena loves fusing her designs with elements from the past, including table tops, old doors, tiles and panels that she has accumulated from havelis across interior Sindh, Mithi, Badin and Thatta over many years.

With her mixed heritage, her life has been an interesting trail of events with a host of different influences shaping the course of her journey. After completing her early education in Karachi’s Convent of Jesus and Mary, Ruheena proceeded to London where she acquired a bachelors’ degree in textiles.

However, shortly after her marriage, she became disconnected from the art scene for many years, and it wasn’t until her children were enrolled in boarding school that she ventured into calligraphy, a skill that she continued to develop even after moving from London to her mother’s residence in Copenhagen.

Shortly after her return to the local art scene in Pakistan, Ruheena received the opportunity to hold many solo exhibitions show-casing her talent, and has since then created many a magnificent masterpiece of Quranic verses. It’s a testament to her skill that many of these pieces have been presented to leading dignitaries around the world including Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud, UAE President Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al-Nahyan and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh M. bin Zayed al-Nahyan. While her creations may now grace the homes of Kings and Sheikhs, the beginnings were far more humble.

“My first exhibition of calligraphic work was held at Karachi’s Copper-Kettle restaurant where I displayed 40 designs of calligraphy on paper and ink. This was followed by an exhibition titled ‘Kalaam’ at the Mohatta Palace in 1999, and yet another one at the Alliance Francais in 2005.” she reminisces. Since then, she has also participated in numerous group exhibitions alongside veteran Pakistani artists, and has even displayed her work as far afield as Paris.

However, for Ruheena, the real sense of accomplishment comes when non-Muslims acquire her calligraphic pieces to display in their homes.  “For a Muslim, there can be no greater feat than the fact that a non-Muslim is eager to pay homage to the scripts of our Holy Book, just because it looks beautiful.” she says with pride.

Up a flight of stairs is her studio, which also doubles as her living space and is an extension of the restaurant that she established two years ago in partnership with her best friend Rubina.

Cluttered with canvases, pencils, stacks of paper and interesting odds and ends, her working studio is yet another treasure-trove of antique wood-work, elaborate paintings, and stacks and stacks of calligraphy that she has created over the course of the twenty years spent mastering her craft.

I stand transfixed before her work, my eyes darting back and forth across the embellished pieces of Quranic verses etched on ornamental wood panels, old doors, seals, candle stamps and mirror frames. Besides paper and ink, she has also inscribed the Arabic scripts in regal gold thread on rich velvet cloth and jamawar silk.

“I have used 24 karat gold, and real rubies and emeralds in many of my designs,” claims the calligrapher.

For a long time, I just stand there studying the intricately styled dots and unique patterns of her vivid designs.

As I turn to leave, my gaze falls upon the image of a flying horse carved on an ivory door. It is inspired by the ‘Buraq’, the divine steed upon which the Prophet journeyed to heaven. Near it is its twin image created with ink on canvas. I finally have to tear my gaze away, because clearly, her studio is an endless treasure trove that will take a lifetime to explore.

Our meeting is now at an end, but apparently Ruheena’s spiritual and artistic journey is far from over. “This is only just the beginning,” she says as I depart. “I have so much more to create.”

Published in The Express Tribune, Sunday Magazine, March 25^th, 2012.