Paintings having an abstract touch by Aqsa Shakil seemed to capture the memories of everyday life in a solo exhibition titled "Delineate" at Koel Gallery Karachi. Her perception of memories was depicted in her paintings showing shadows and random splatters of walnut ink.
She tried to show how memories fade away and we only remember the moments that were close to our heart but even those moments were not crystal clear they are like optical illusions following you. Those memories travel with you through life stored in your mind and reappear in your dreams or in quiet moments you remember them as they give you pleasure.
But some reflections of memories may be painful and you just want to forget them but they remain with you because you don't want to forget them from your heart.
Different places and different people leave behind totally different impression on your memories and you want to revisit those memories again and again thus strengthening those specific memories and a time came when you want to share those beautiful memories with others around you.
Aqsa has done the same exercise she transformed her memories in her paintings thus making her personal experiences public. She wanted to share her light moments with others through her art. As she frequently travelled she has gathered a lot of distinct and unusual moments that may be usual to the locals of that area but new to her.
As she travelled she encounter many different weathers and living conditions and therefore she used that experience and feeling in her paintings also.
A graduate of the National College of Arts (NCA) with a major in miniature painting Aqsa has showcased her first solo exhibition in 2007 in New York at the Oliver Kamm Gallery.
Elaborating her work she said, "My work is heavily influenced by travel. Having been rooted, un-rooted and re-rooted from Tanzania, to Lahore, to Dallas, and now San Francisco, I have a constant inherent obsession of tracing every slipping moment. My paintings have remnants of old photographs of people I have known, grown out of, or run into over the years. They are submerged in memory pockets: vast atmospheric spaces, which result after the paper endures a rain or snow storm."
She interprets her personal life experiences as stories that brought her nostalgic feelings. She worked with various old photographs that captured the happy, joyful moments for her and her family. She used the technique of transferring images on paper that has deliberately exposure to rain or snow to give the feeling of weather to her works. Afterwards she paints using ink and watercolour to give intricate detail to his paintings.
Some of her paintings titled "Ammi", "Motia", "Lala" and "Crowd" explained the everyday life of a person who is sensitive to his/her surroundings and except the exposure of things around.
Her creations gave diverse perceptive of various things and moments. She duels upon the past by painting her memories. And she enjoyed it as she live those moments again while painting them.
Aqsa tried to narrate her now dream like moments in many forms and shapes with colours in a very conceptual way, therefore when they collaborate or merge with each other they depict meaningful picture or even some beautiful stories.
Her paintings were based on mixture of blur moments which were totally muddled or blended with colours. Those moments may be completely forgotten once and revived in her paintings or some moments so close to her heart that she wanted to remember them again and again.
Some of our memories, although not obvious yet they drained or expels the reality of everyday life into our brains in an abstract and unexplained form. This situation is very skilfully expressed by her in abstract form by using ink splatters.
Her paintings were mundane memories that can be anybody's life experience. She showed random feelings of both related and unrelated images that come across her during her life.
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