‘PURGATION’ is a solo exhibition of intimate, introspective miniature paintings by Pakistani artist Fariha Rashid, who employs a personal symbology to deal with emotionally charged memories. It opened December 20^th, 2016 at the Art Scene Gallery in Clifton, Karachi, Pakistan.

I refer to my artwork as symbolic, and each of the symbols I use has its own meaning to justify the subject matter. Yet the number of symbols is limited, since I look for simplicity in the life which inspires me to paint.

When one observes my miniatures closely, one can see that leaves and ropes are the main symbols I use.

Leaves represent hope, revival and growth, but if dead leaves are painted, they will be regarded as signifying despair and hopelessness.

Ropes on a broader scale refer to knowledge, but the color differentiates their various meanings. In some of the paintings one can see white ropes, which represents a positive type of knowledge, but in other images some black areas in the ropes are left empty, signifying black magic and dark wisdom. Both of them have played an important role in my life, leading to some incidents which now induce me to paint them in order to let out the anger that they have caused.

All of my art pieces are painted on a black base, to show the darkness inside, but creating imagery out of that darkness is the actual task. Hoping and wishing that all that darkness is not permanent requires a big effort to battle with oneself.

Thus on the whole my artworks are based on the expression of inner feelings, anger, aggression, and love. I experience all these emotions very strongly in regard to various events in my life, and they compel me to paint and represent them.

It won't be wrong to also name ‘Catharsis’ this series of miniatures, since in them I give expression to what is inside me, and expressing it has a liberating effect. The voices inside my head don't let me sleep. They are like a film that every night replay in my mind all the events that hurt me and that I detest, that are just the opposite of those events which I wish would happen, opposite to self-developed memories, to the happiness that my own mind creates.

The compositions in my works are not visually chaotic; most of the paintings I create offer on the contrary a very calm imagery, expressing what I want to feel, and how at the same time I wish to get rid of all the anger and hatred that have built up inside me.

Click here to see the whole series of miniatures.