Edinburgh Napier University

  Sana Bilgrami and Maliha Peracha brought together artists from Scotland and Pakistan to discover in their work refractions of a shared and evocative vision of the elemental power, rhythm and continuity of natural forces. This exhibition reveals how borders can be surpassed through the language of mark-making, and how artworks can speak to each other by embracing, subverting and transcending histories.

The artists explore the complex and fragile ecological relationships between nature and humanity. Land, space, environment, place – are interlinked with hybrid modes of memory, the physical memory of rocks, the memory of light from the stars, histories of flotsam, the movement of light on surfaces, and recollections of old myths. The artists draw from their immediate physical surroundings: the azure Scottish seascape, a verdant Lahore garden, craggy Highland valleys, an encroached Karachi beach, urban kitchen tiles. Translating from processes of time, they access constructs and echoes of home, in America, in Punjab, in Nigeria.

The online exhibition is a cornucopia of evidences, recollections and experiences. The works trace the shifting dynamics of spaces and speak about encounters that are creative, destructive, or inspiring.