Qiraat Soomro uncloaks obscene speculations
Hailing from Hyderabad, Qiraat came across the means of scrutiny during her Bachelors in Lahore, that unveiled her versatility concerning mediums and techniques. She has showcased her prints and mixed media works in numerous exhibitions and competitions, where she availed the opportunities and manifested her exploratory process.
Qiraat’s work reveals self-brawls triggered by ceaseless waves of societal barbarity and exploitation. She has uncloaked society’s obscene speculation on a person’s course of living as it continuously disrupts an individual’s self-constructed orbit. The assimilation of her identity with the sufferers links her context to a broader and objective issue. Her visuals proclaim the attributes of fear and anxiety caused by censoring self-expression, which she believes defies the yearning to open up before the world of cruelty. Her visual language speaks of the constant descending esteem of an individual that concludes in numb tones and dim imagery. Qiraat further converses about the sheer turmoil within a person through her images of body gestures and facial expressions. The surfaces rely on agonizing narrations that the figures silently deliver with their hearts bottled up and sealed by cunningly vicious communities.
Qiraat depicts the notion of provocative determination using inky hues and unsettling compositions and thus demands her viewers to apprehend dire psychological outcomes. The subtle tones blend with mellow fluidity as the subjects seek silence amongst leaden and woeful ambiences of unidentified settings. Her evident cerebral execution through fumy backgrounds and bold line work suggests the extent of a detrimental impact that is never generally considered. Centralization and focal aspects of a composition signify Qiraat’s abstract manner of expression. It immediately questions the prevalence of caged souls with their laced mouths and chained limbs.
Mix media allows Qiraat to feel the autonomy buried within the confinements of flesh and bones as the splashes of anguish relieve the collective burden of society’s standards. Incorporating red in negative places break the harmony and acts as an uninviting feature that a mind undeniably reacts to. One might reflect on the fatal quality of red, realizing the idea behind its nature and intentions. Qiraat aims at its harsh tonality to communicate with the inner realities. It is a reference to the subjectivity common in all the figures in her works. The immediate impressions are of dread and terror and, the meticulous and profound observation reveals the unease and despondency lying under the shackles of solitude. The depth of anxiousness is buried in the textured surfaces as they narrate the untold truth and demise.
The apparent psychoanalytic nature of Qiraat’s practice makes it quite viable to follow the stories drawn as they all implore to be connected with and heard.
Written by Ayesha Maheen
Image: Untitled, Qiraat Soomro, charcoal and gesso on paper, all copyrights retained by the artist 2021.
