A Celebration of Culture & Faith
My art has always been influenced by my Islamic faith and my Pakistani heritage. In my late teens and early twenties, this meant exploring themes and issues around identity and what it meant to be a Canadian born and raised Muslim woman of Pakistani descent, especially after I started wearing the hijab in 2003. Some examples of this work, including a series where I created Islamic geometric and Pakistani mehndi patterns using strands of hair can be seen here and here.
More recently, the influence of my faith and culture is made evident through my love for and use of bright colours, geometric and biomorphic/vegetal patterns and taking inspiration from Islamic architecture and Pakistani textiles, folk art and painted trucks.
I decided that in 2026, all of my art will be inspired by Pakistani and Islamic art, even if it's just a particular colour or style. This is to honour my late father, who immigrated to Canada to start a new life in 1969, and later brought my mother, his new bride back with him to build our family.
It also is a way to further champion decolonization and anti-racism through my work and challenge the systemic racism, discrimination and Eurocentrism that, despite welcome progress, is still widespread in the art world and in art education.
Given that Islamophobia increased 173% from 2020-2024 and anti-South Asian racism increased by nearly 106% in 2025, it is especially important for me to represent my faith and culture through my art. I have always used art to address and challenge social issues and concerns, and while it is a form of resistance, this body of work is meant to be, first and foremost, a vibrant celebration of Islamic and South Asian beauty and tradition.
In terms of which mediums will be used, I work primarily in watercolour, gouache and acrylic but will also incorporate embroidery and printmaking, both because those media are widely used in traditional/folk art in Pakistan (and South Asia as a whole) as well as collage. I often combine mediums and thematically, it fits with my exploration of what it means to navigate multiple identities and layers through colour, texture and traditional patterns and motifs.
There is also a research and writing component to this project, and I am currently learning more about traditional Pakistani and Islamic folk art and architecture, such as painted trucks, block printing, Wazir Khan Mosque in Lahore, as well as researching Western and colonial views towards handicrafts and particularly, the use of bright colours in art and design (I am currently reading and enjoying Chromophobia, by David Batchelor).
For the first phase of this project, I am focusing on studies and smaller works in my sketchbooks and on watercolour paper, which I will then use as a foundation and inspiration for larger, more refined pieces.
