Huma Shoaib

March 17th – April 15th, 2021

This collection of work transcends through the journey from Chaos to harmony, similar to the process of making the imagery, in which complex grids and calculations create a pandemonium of lines, transforming into perfect patterns and motifs. Rather than hide them, Huma chooses to keep the mistakes made during the under drawings to symbolize the imperfections in us and notion towards our inherent quest for perfection. Inspired by mysticism and Mevlana Rumi’s poetry, these works are visual narratives of sufism.

Traditional, religious, and geometric patterns inculcate the utopian harmony amongst different beliefs as the bees follow a circular motion resembling the whirling dervish as well as the pilgrims in Mecca. The circular compositions rising from the Sama performances in which celestial movements follow the notion that harmony hails from revolutions made by all, from celestial bodies to living beings. The changing details in these birds and bees signify the process of unlearning and relearning; the sufic ideology of losing one’s self in order to find the truth. Fluorescent colors give otherwise traditional patterns a ‘contemporary’ edge.

Huma’s work raises questions about the division created amongst people in the name of personal beliefs. By amalgamating patterns from various religious and sacred geometry she brings forth the similarities between beliefs and human psyche. Simultaneously she touches the very notion of imperfections in us and our quest and desire for perfection. She uses paper cut drawings and silhouettes layered together along with detailed graphite drawings giving three dimensionality to otherwise flat imagery, hence giving it depth and multitude of meaning. Huma is a graduate of Fine Arts from The National college of Arts Lahore, Pakistan. She has regularly shown her works at Tashkeel’s annual shows, XVA and other galleries in Dubai.