The exquisite exhibition ‘Mashq Dom — the Second Exercise’ opened at Koel Gallery on December 21. The artist, Naveed Sadiq, explains that mashq (practice) is at the core of traditional apprenticeship, where the ustaad (teacher) teaches craft etiquette to the shaagird (apprentice) through physical and mental training, seen in various crafts such as pottery, weaving, embroidery, poetry, music, dance and painting.

Sadiq’s focus on South Asian history, especially the Mughal era, led him to dig into visual and textual sources such as the Badshah Nama, Akbarnama and Ain-e-Akbar. The Badshah Nama is an illustrated chronicle commissioned by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to document his reign, blending Persian prose and verse for a historical spin.

The Akbarnama, an official record of Akbar’s rule, was penned by Abul Fazl ibn Mubarak, who was Akbar’s court historian and biographer, and who also wrote Ain-e-Akbari, Volume III, detailing the rules framed by Akbar for administration. Sadiq’s artistic odyssey thus intricately weaves together the threads of history, art and tradition in a resplendent tapestry.

Sadiq was born in Hyderabad, Sindh, and graduated with a distinction from the National College of Arts (NCA) Lahore in miniature painting in 2006. In 2017, he attained his MA with Honours from The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts in London, specialising in Visual Islamic Traditional Art (VITA).

A breathtaking exhibition by Naveed Sadiq explores the tradition, history and craft of miniature art

His thesis, exploring the timeline and lineage of miniature art practice, received immense acclaim and is now part of the permanent collection at the Islamic Art Museum in Malaysia. The focus of his studies during the Master’s programme was on Indo-Persian miniature painting.

Naveed creates art inspired by geometry, by using dots, lines and circles. This grid guides the proportions, layouts, patterns and motifs in his miniature paintings. One can well imagine that exploring the myriad pathways lying within the circles, arcs and lines before completion must be an arduous journey for the geometer. Even if one can’t always see it, the grid is there, like an invisible compass.

Balance and proportion play a crucial role in Sadiq’s work on display at Koel Gallery, bridging traditional and contemporary practices. Additionally, he explores and examines the timeless potential of indigenous pigments alongside the previously mentioned aspects.

Some of the pigments, used on handmade wasli paper and stained with tea, are displayed in the show: murmur-e-sabz (green marble or malachite, which holds a special place in the region’s rich history), sung-e-lajward (lapis lazuli), neel (blue, indigo or sapphire), lamp black and sufaida, also gold.

Deconstruction of the original miniature paintings uncovered the need for patience and diligence in the creative process. Sadiq’s approach, therefore, involves observing and analysing, transcending into a space between intention and creation. Replicating a design is an accurate reflection on how miniature painters would have learned their craft many centuries ago.

Masters usually crafted the designs or original drawings, and these were subsequently worked on, traced and reproduced by their apprentices. In Mashq Dom, the gradual and magical emergence brings the previously unseen into consciousness through stylised lines, proportional colour palettes, and visible and invisible geometries.

‘Mashq Dom — the Second Exercise’ is on display at Koel Gallery in Karachi from December 21, 2023 to January 5, 2024

Rumana Husain is a writer, artist and educator. She is the author of two coffee-table books on Karachi, and has authored and illustrated over 60 children’s books

Published in Dawn, EOS, December 31st, 2023