ISLAMABAD: World renowned classical dancer Tehreema Mitha is conventionally known to tell stories through dance, but her artwork reveals the quiet side of her character that is equally captivating and full of movement.

Her exhibition, ‘Quilting Stories of War and Peace’ was inaugurated by Austrian Ambassador Dr Brigitta Blaha at Gallery 6 on Thursday. The paintings were presented in three series, all of which reflect a different mood of the artist herself.

The ‘Quilting Series’, a collection of vibrant and intricate artwork is inspired by rilli quilts, a traditional form of textile craft through which Pakistani women are known to express their creativity and love for colour.

Doing justice to the aesthetically pleasing colours, patterns and energy that is invested into crafting rillis, Mitha’s paintings also use a layered approach in colour and detail.

“I like to go into detail of my art, just like my dance. All of this is miniature brushwork; a single patch takes up to 3 hours. I have also used pencil because I want to highlight the texture of the paper,” Ms Mitha said.

A single glance is not enough to absorb the intricate details of Mitha’s work, the flamboyant colours compel the observer to zoom in to the details of the patchwork and derive their unique interpretation.

Mitha adds an individualistic expression to the exquisite patchwork by complimenting it with a bird in graceful flight: “I look at a lot of pictures of birds and try to understand the mechanics of their movement to decide how I’m going to do a painting. Birds and nature itself is so amazing in its variety. All my birds are very detailed and they reveal a different aspect from each angle you choose to look from,” she explained.

Mitha goes on to reveal her political side with the ‘This Is What War Does’ series, a topic that affects her deeply as a Pakistani.

“Since the dreadful conflicts all around the world have only grown and the human misery has been heart wrenching, I felt the compulsion to get the dreadful cycle of violence and its consequences on paper, as I have done through dance,” she said.

Although a dark topic, Mitha does not shy away from using a rich colour scheme to subtly exude the atrocities of war.

In the painting ‘In My Playground’, she illustrates a scene of innocent children being coiled in to a large orange flame. While in ‘Yemen’, she uses a mix of colours to create a whirlwind of smoke coming from airforce fighter jets crowding the sky.

Finally, ‘The Stories Within’ series depicts the “story-telling culture of South Asia, where our classical dance is imbued with stories through which we present deeper thoughts; ancient religious philosophies are taught through mythologies; Sufi’s spread their wisdom through poetry and parables.

In each painting there is a sense of mystery, something not quite of this earth, something sensed rather than defined. Each story caught in a somewhat rounded form where there is no real beginning or end, encapsulated in this moment forever; yet you can take it out of there in your mind and travel through time with it.”

The launch was attended by the likes of renowned Urdu poet Kishwar Naheed, human rights activist Tahira Abdullah and famous lawyer and art critic Basharat Qadir.

While lauding Ms Mitha’s meticulous and powerful work, Ms Abdullah said: “What stands out about this work is that it is affordable by the middle class society in Islamabad as it ranges between Rs30,000 to Rs70,000.”

The exhibition will run till Nov 16. Mitha will also be performing a dance recital on Nov 11 at The Farm by the Theatre Wallay in Islamabad.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2017