Artists Minaa Haroon, Muhammad Muzammil Khan, Rafay Talpur and Raheela Abro each translate the ideas of inherited objects, artistic legacies, memories of confinement and the precariousness of nourishment through a distinctive visual language in their exhibition ‘Time and Traces’ at Canvas Gallery. Although the concerns of these four artists could hardly be more different at first glance, yet they overlap in their preoccupation with what time leaves behind.

The jewellery forms of Haroon are unmistakable, almost floating within dense, radiating patterns. Beginning with pieces inherited from her mother, she casts, carves and gilds their forms, embedding them in handmade paper and intricate geometric patterns. The colour of the ground intensifies the gold and dark blue motifs, while the rough edges of the handmade paper deliberately contrast with the precision of the miniature-like ornamentation. The result is apparent in works where necklaces and pendants appear almost suspended within radiating fields of turquoise, orange, blue and gold.

Minaa’s miniature training is apparent in her precision, but the layered paper, gold leaf and material experimentation take the work beyond conventional miniature painting. The jewellery remains recognisable as an object, while simultaneously becoming part of an abstract visual field.

The heirloom is neither preserved intact nor simply........

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