OF STONE AND SEA (2021)

Each Canvas (framed) : 46”x 74” (116cm x 188 cm)
Cement, Acrylic, India Ink, Powdered Stone, Pigments, Coffee, Iron Filings on Raw Canvas

These paintings begin with a question of home—of creating a place for the spirit to dwell. Each canvas holds a textured topography of cement, shaped to guide the downward flow of ink and pigment. The resulting traces capture the material’s motion and emotion, forming a record of elemental interaction.

This material-driven process draws from the artist’s observations of nature’s physicality: the cement evokes weathered stone and bedrock, while flowing pigments recall rain rushing down rock faces and waves crashing ashore.

From the artist: “As I shaped the cement, I imagined my nomadic ancestors crossing mountains and deserts. As I guided the water, I connected with my seafaring lineage. These works honor both the ancestral journeys I carry and the primal forces—earth and water—that form not only the land, but our very bodies. In making them, I locate myself as an extension of the Earth—our original, and enduring, home.”

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This artwork is part of Sanctuaries, a site-specific installation at the Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design.