Change of Course

Aisha Khalid is one of Pakistan's leading neo-miniature artists. Change of Course utilizes Khalid's exquisite visual vocabulary of infinite repetition. The pattern engulfs the picture plane and creates a stunning, virtual space. Her techniques of ornamentation that extend beyond the picture's margins generate a surface of syncopated rhythms and suggest both physical and psychological infinity within an enclosed space. "Her subtle play with pattern illustrates how the common Islamic motif of abstract formal repetition may serve to reassure through recycling the familiar. Pattern plays its part in Khalid's use of camouflage by hinting at the hypocrisy within an orthodox use of repetition, one legitimized by a popular concept of tradition which refuses historical change." (V. Whiles, Portraits & Vortexes, Gandhara Art Gallery, Hong Kong, 2007)