Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai, indo afghan, contemporary

Shams o Zameen ke darmiyaan, Ek Bagh ka tassawwur (Between the Sun and the Land A Garden Mirage), Papier-mâché, acrylic gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 93 x 79 cm, 2023

Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai, contemporary south asian artist, An n

Ek Bagh aur Dariya ka aabi paiband (A Garden and a Blue Patch of Sea), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 93 x 79 cm, 2023

Gul-e Qadeemi aur Qalb-e Tanha (An Ancient Flower and the Lonely Heart), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 93 x 79 cm, 2023

Ek Dil ke mitne ka khauf (The Heart’s Fear of Being Erased), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 74 x 55 cm, 2023

Aag mein tap kar dil ka kundan hona (Fire Forges the Heart to Pure Gold ), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 47 x 40 cm, 2023

Ek pal ko qaid karne ka hunar roshni se koi seekhe (Capturing a Moment is a Skill to be Learnt from the Light), Papier-mâché, acrylic and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 47 x 40 cm, 2023

Zameen ka Aftab hona aur ek tanha darakht (The Illumination of the Earth and a Lone Tree), Papier-mâché, acrylic, walnut dye paste and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 47 x 41 cm, 2023

Phalsafi ke bagh mein thehra ek kachi mitti ka dil (A Clay Heart in the Garden of Philosophy), Papier-mâché, acrylic and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 47 x 41 cm, 2023

Jangal ka bezaar hona (The Weariness of the Wilderness), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 102 x 93 cm, 2023

Masjid Al-aqsa ka tassawur (A Reflection of the Al-Aqsa Mosque), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 47 x 40 cm, 2023

Ek Bagh ke jharokhe ka aag pakadna (Fire to the Garden Window), Papier-mâché, acrylic and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 70 x 55 cm, 2023

Khudi ka Bagh hona (The Blooming of the Self), Papier-mâché, acrylic and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 80 x 70 cm, 2023

Ishq ka alfaz mein tootna aur ek Bagh (Breaking the Word ‘Ishq’ and a Garden), Papier-mâché, acrylic and gouache on Manjarpat Fabric, 55 x 48 cm, 2023

Bagh ka qaynaat hona (When the Garden Becomes the Universe), Papier-mâché, acrylic, walnut dye paste and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 47 x 41 cm, 2023

Dasht-e Leili aur ek tanha Bagh (The Night Desert and a Lonesome Garden), Papier-mâché, acrylic, gold dust and graphite on Manjarpat Fabric, 102 x 93 cm, 2023

Art Dubai 2024

Bagh-e-Zenana, Arshi Irshad Ahmadzai

Exile lingers as a scent in Ahmadzai’s new suite of works eponymously titled after Kabul’s public garden designated exclusively for women. Bagh-e-Zenana’s history is one of repair and return, as the once opulent garden of queens witnessed political onslaughts and damage, until it was revived in early 2000s by Nilab Sadat as a space of refuge and camaraderie for the women of Kabul. Sadat reportedly had over 800 trees planted in the bagh. Among the things Ahmadzai salvaged in her escape from the city in 2021 are sketches made under the awn of those very trees, marking the hours of pleasure, freedom and friendship experienced in the garden. The sketches hold lines that are sparse and swift, drenched with the immediacy of co-presence, the artist is witness to scenes unfolding in her sight. Years later, these scenes pass through the prism of exile and memory, and the spry lines transform into motifs laboriously plotted with graphite and acrylic and layered with paper pulp on the traditional Manjarpat fabric that Ahmadzai favours.

Trees appear as a salient motif, a topographic spectre of the bagh, in nearly all the works. Along with foliage and architectural iconography such as ornamented darwazas and domes, Ahmadzai is attentive to the properties of light in a garden, which appears as both a poetic refrain and through the generous use of gold dust. In the twin loss of a home and a city, Ahmadzai’s turn to trees of this bagh as a symbol signals a sense of hopeful rootedness that transcends the limits of the present. The portrayal of the immanence of light, its exorbitance towards all that falls in its path, from shadows upon stone to the filigreed dance of leaves, to the illumination of women and young girls piercing the air with laughter and songs, is less an elegy but a promise that reflects the persistence of birds, sunlight, trees against the agony of history. Against the darkness of exile, the series affirms the presence of light and the strength of hope.

Bagh-e-Zenana is a promise to the bagh that awaits its sisters, that the world that is lost will remain, and will remain unbound.

Arushi Vats

2024

Artists

Arshi IRshad Ahmadzai
28/02/2024 - 03/03/2024
Bawwaba, Booth W8
Curated by Emiliano Vades