Untitled
Acrylic on Paper
2×2 inches
2014
Available
Rabia Ajaz is primarily a painter. She has worked in multiple media exploring different themes and concepts. She does not like to be assigned or be defined by a single style.
Her recent work consisted of two-inch paintings, meticulously painted in acrylics on paper. The subjects of these paintings range widely, from a bird soaring in the sky to a dead rat on the street. Fragmented and minute, these paintings invite the viewer to peer into them, to ponder, and to engage in a dialogue. Ultimately, the challenge lies in an image’s visual strength to play with one’s perception and psychology.
She believes that the power of painting lies in its ability to render several different depictions in the eyes of the viewers. A photograph will not allow the viewer to see a woman in a detail of raw meat, whereas the boundlessness, rawness, and texture of a painting can transform such an image in the mind. A painting has the power to transcend the limits of its original reference – to transport the viewer to a world of the imagination. The possibilities are limitless when the image is abstracted enough and left open and ambiguous. The viewers are invited to give the painting their own breath to them.
Born in Peshawar, Ajaz completed her BFA with Honours, from Beaconhouse National University, Lahore in 2009. Recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship Award, she later completed her MFA with Distinction at the Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York in 2013. She has exhibited her work in Dubai and New York. She currently lives and works in Lahore.
Photo Courtesy | Rabia Ajaz