An-Nisa II, 2019
Arshi Ahmadzai’s ink and embroidery series An-Nisa was executed in 2019 while the artist was a
resident at 1Shanthiroad Studio/Gallery in Bangalore, India. The works are in keeping with the artist’s continued engagement with working with text and images painted and embroidered on fabric.
An-Nisa series derives its title from the Quranic verse of the same name; the only chapter in the book dedicated to women. The artworks contains textual and visual elements which individually and collectively point to the artist’s cultural location. artworks contains background of illegible Arabic and Persian letters that reference works by historical female poets like Rabia Basri, Akka Mahadevi, Lal Ded, Al Khansa, Asma bint Marwan, Furugh Farrukhzad, Parveen Shakir and Nadia Anjuman. The images represent various objects and elements that are symbolic of womanhood, be it a flower gifted by a lover or the iron that is symbolic of the domestic realm that women are often relegated to. Botanical elements in this series are mostly inspired by the gardens of Kabul and Lal Bagh in Begalore. Most of the pictorial elements in this series are inspired by these gardens including the heart, two women holding hearts, the female body covered in flowers, a jumper covered in eyes, a knife with blood and fruits cut open. Domes and doors symbolize the sufi philosophy of Zahir and Batin.
This series is a visual collage of all the heard and unheard stories of the lives of women in South Asia and the Middle East.