Adler Beatty is happy to current Magical Creatures, an exhibition that includes the work of Karachi-born artist Hiba Schahbaz alongside Western European illuminated manuscripts, uncommon books, and objects, created between the 14th and nineteenth centuries from personal collections and Les Enluminures.
Schahbaz, educated in conventional Indo-Persian miniature portray, makes use of that method to discover cross-cultural mythology and the feminine perspective. This presentation of distinctive works options watercolors on handmade, tea-stained paper, bins, and books. Enlarged, life-size variations of figures and botanicals from the miniatures are included right into a site-specific set up of cut-paper mermaids in a lush setting. Whereas Schahbaz works in a wide range of scales and mediums, her work retain a hanging intimacy. Their delicate hues and stylish element are rooted in rigor, self-discipline, and persistence, the end result of years of examine and custom.
Illuminated manuscripts had been handwritten non secular texts, historic data, and literary works created within the Center Ages and Renaissance. Characteristically, they embrace ornate borders, intricate typography, and gold leaf elaborations that catch the sunshine to create transcendent moments of illumination and reverence, reinforcing the non secular or authoritative weight of the texts. One notable style of illuminated manuscripts, the Bestiary, attracts a prescient parallel with Schahbaz’s work, each using animals and legendary creatures.
Schahbaz claims house for feminine narratives inside what’s a traditionally male-dominated kind, infusing private mythology into every work. Works comparable to Self Portrait with Lion (2024) depict girls in profile alongside highly effective beasts. The flora surrounding them typically spills past the body, and our bodies stream with their environment, their curves contrasting the geometric borders. By bridging the meticulous craft of manuscript illumination with up to date themes, Magical Creatures highlights the enduring energy of visible storytelling. Whether or not by the fragile layering of pigments or the fluidity of legendary imagery, Schahbaz’s work underscores the common attraction of manuscripts throughout cultures. At a time when digital media dominates, her follow reaffirms the significance of preserving and reimagining tactile, centuries-old traditions. In illuminating these tales anew, Schahbaz invitations us to think about the boundless narratives that lie throughout the ornate margins of historical past and artwork.
Magical Creatures revels within the delicacy and technical mastery displayed all through the Illuminated Manuscripts and miniatures, whereas additionally providing a subversion of authorship and perspective. Schahbaz’s participation on this foregone custom affords a singular alternative for up to date audiences to expertise these ornate microcosms in a brand new context.
