Azadeh Elmizadeh’s painterly and drawing practice is embedded in the historical Islamic manuscript tradition, from which she derives source materials and the pleasures of ornamentation. Taking inspiration from miniature paintings of battle scenes in the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp, Elmizadeh flattens the figurative elements to draw out other perceptual qualities of the image, such as the energy of opposing bodies at the centre of the scene and the vigorous galloping of horses encircling them. While the outlines of the figures in the painting have been blotted out, the essence of their embodied history remains.

This work is included in Ornamenting Relation, curated by Noor Bhangu, which features artists Hamra Abbas, Golnar Adili, Azadeh Elmizadeh, and Ayesha Singh. Through the individual lightboxes, the artists present their encounters with the ornamental canon of Islamic visual culture to reveal the continuities and discontinuities of the field in relation to contemporary art and political discourses.

Taking inspiration from traditional aspects of Islamic art, outlined by Laura Marks, as “almost always avoid[ing] depicting anything with a face, anything with a body, and even sometimes anything with an outline,” Ornamenting Relation seeks to understand the transgressive and relational potentialities of abstract aesthetics in mediating dialogue across diverse cultures.