“Spiralling in close formations that emerge from a written word, Tazeen Qayyum’s pen and ink drawings are word sculptures that vibrate with the urgency of our time. The unique form of each word is morphed into an agitation on the surface of the paper urging the viewer to see, hear, think, imagine, witness, learn, and remember.
Through these drawings, Qayyum seeks out a dialogue with the viewer. Her work offers a way to think about language as a 'call-for-action,’ a way to actively engage with today’s urgencies. The drawings also explore language as a migrant body with sounds and shapes birthed elsewhere. It questions if the viewer needs to understand the words in the drawing, or can they sense their form and urgency?
In this exhibition words become an invitation for mediation, meditation, mobilization, and memorialization”
– An extract from the exhibition text by Ruba Kana’an, Assistant Professor, Islamic Art and Architecture, Department of Visual Studies, University of Toronto Mississauga.
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