Paintings

Over the years, Saba’s canvases have taken on a bleached hue and rugged texture has emerged as a primary element. The choice of media is very deliberate, since Saba has a preference for elemental and primordial material. The weathered aging quality of the surface is a result of layering that often takes at least three months. A bit of paper is followed by a bit of Jute that may be scratched and pulled out as the work shapes up. The brilliance lies in how spontaneous it all appears when the works finally reach completion. Each painting has a history of years of experience where the artist has experimented with mixing and layering waiting, drying. During the period of waiting and layering the artist may experience a mood shift or a slight change in perspective, this also lends the work a certain fluidity where human conflicts are created and resolve it. At this point the artist may even experience a loss of control that allows her to explore and enrich her language. The works are then free to express conflict, peace and serenity, all in one breath.

The selection of text in her painting has a history and perspective where the personal meets the political. For instance, the letters her mother wrote to her in Urdu, in 2003, replete with family anecdotes are integrated into the same space as writings by Faiz, Ghalib and Mahasweta Devi  Urdu is an Indian language not like Arabic and Muslims she is referring to are an integral part of Indian culture. Her reference to Urdu is not an attempt to collapse boarders but to speak from the viewpoint of an insider. This Urdu text has evolved beyond the traditional Bismillah category of calligraphy and surfaced as both ornament and witness to her cultural moorings and social concerns.

The seared text enmeshed with hemp threads evokes a sense of conflict and draws upon issues that are close to the artist: the Sikh riots in Delhi, the Gujarat riots. Somewhere the actual burning of cities and the intention of omitting certain cultures or ideas comes through in the work and the artist attempts to resolve those issues through her art on a more personal rather than political level. That is where the text begins to play its role visually where it becomes wholly symbolic and represents the artist’s personal identity along with the larger cultural association that the appearance of such text on blistered and charred walls evokes.