Life in the Mist

Tea-wash, watercolour, shell gold & black ink on wasli paper, 15.3 x 24.8 cm, 400 USD
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The island with its lonely green tree represents the weak and marginalized “other.” It’s surrounded by mist and predators—the world’s more powerful forces.

I love using simple geometric shapes in my compositions, which were traditionally used either for decorations or to contain text. This painting is divided into sections, creating points of interest for the viewer to explore and ponder what’s happening. Dead trees, hidden predators, and a lonely injured, bleeding yellow bird all raise questions that viewers can answer depending on their own feelings. Red water represents aggression—the spilled blood of the innocent.

Hoopoe birds appear in most of my paintings. The hoopoe is mentioned in the epic poem The Concourse of the Birds by the 12th-century Persian poet Attar. It speaks of a wise hoopoe who leads all the birds on an expedition to find the simurgh, a legendary creature they would like to have as their leader. In the end, only 30 birds reach the simurgh, who, it turns out, is simply their own reflection. The hoopoe is also mentioned in the Holy Quran as the messenger that brought Prophet Solomon’s letter to Queen Bilqees (Queen of Shiba).

For me, the hoopoe represents beauty, peace, and prayer, or the innocent’s message being carried to the heavens. Clouds in my artwork often represent the beginning of heaven.