Maliha Azami Aga’s paintings, recently showcased during the exhibition ‘Alternate Reality’ at the Ejaz Art Gallery in Lahore, are characterised by vivid colours, dynamic brushstrokes and profound emotional depth.
They offer more than just visual splendour, inviting viewers to see the world through her unique perspective. Her palette — vivid fuchsia pinks, charged blues and pulsating yellows — interacts in a kaleidoscopic manner that splashes across the canvas, seizing the space and holding the viewer’s attention.
Aga’s Midnight Sun captures the rare phenomenon of luminosity at night, symbolising the inner self that burns like a midnight sun — defiant and illuminating. In contrast, the vast black sky haunts as a silent witness to the eerie stillness of night. A rare and rhythmic orchestration of hues — fuchsia, turquoise, orange, bold reds and emerald — seem to vibrate across the canvas. There is a feeling of urgent movement and restlessness in the strokes.
I see two distinct metaphors emerge from this painting. One is a celebration — the radiant illumination of the inner self, shining like a midnight sun through darkness. The other is far more haunting: the blood of innocents spilled across the foreground, its hues so potent they seem to have moved the very skies to grief.
The vivid colours of Maliha Azami Aga’s paintings belie a deeper undercurrent of turmoil
Winter of Discontent explores emotional, political and existential tension. The title, borrowed from Shakespeare’s Richard III, suggests a deep inner or collective unrest, a season not just of cold, but of upheaval, sorrow and hardship. The trees stand stripped bare, their stems painted in red, blue orange and yellow — devoid of leaves, they suggest desolation and endurance.
The Promised Land carries an immense symbolic weight. I find great spiritual relief in this work that seems to say that those who endure pain, hold fast to truth and walk the path of righteousness in this world are not forgotten. Their suffering is not in vain. For them, there is a promise — a realm beyond this one, full of ease, mercy and reward. The turquoise and white sky, and the snow-capped mountains at the back, evokes peace, purity and the surreal beauty of a dreamlike realm.
There is a profound tension between the fiery, blood-red sky and the vibrant, almost celebratory, rhythmic daubs in the foreground — all in stark contrast with the title Fallen Angels (My Children of Gaza). Rendered in acrylic on canvas, the work merges abstraction with emotional symbolism. The vivid, scattered dots of colour resemble floating souls, evoking the loss of innocent lives in Gaza. The sky mourns — a visceral cry against genocide — while the luminous dots in the foreground seem to illuminate a darkened world.
Jewel Series by Aga struck a familiar chord — its raw energy and layered colour fields reminded me of an exhibition title I once came across: ‘Colourful Chaos.’ According to the artist, the charged strokes reflect the complexities of her entangled thoughts and are what she “could grasp and what she could eliminate.”
‘Alternate Reality’ was on display at the Ejaz Art Gallery in Lahore from September 3-13, 2025
The writer is an art critic, fine artist and educationist based in Lahore.
She can be reached at ayeshamajeed2015@gmail.com
Published in Dawn, EOS, October 26th, 2025
