ISLAMABAD: Five women miniature artists showcased their works on Tuesday, which hovered between tradition and lived experience.

Titled, ‘Khamsa’, the exhibition held at 8B2 Gallery displayed the works by Rabiya Malik, Yamna Dar, Eman Obaid, Rafia Baig and Sumbal Minahal.

The paintings drew inspiration from the South Asian miniature tradition, pushing it into contemporary and deeply personal terrain.

The exhibition, which was curated by Zareen Khan, opened with a live guitar performance by Saif Ahmad Khan.

“Khamsa” refers to five in Arabic, and uses the metaphor of the hand to suggest collectivity: five distinct practices connected through a shared lineage of miniature painting.

For Yamna Dar, miniature painting becomes spatial rather than figurative. Trained in traditional miniature at the National College of Arts, she layers wasli, clay, paper and light to create three-dimensional dioramas that evoke domestic interiors and shared memory.

“I don’t use figures in my work because I believe space itself carries human presence,” Dar explained. “The rooms we live in every day, kitchens, chairs, tables, they already tell our stories.”

Eman Obaid approaches miniature as an embodied practice rather than a fixed form. A graduate of NCA, Rawalpindi, her work moves between abstraction and representation, focusing on slowness, repetition and attention.

“I use miniature as a way of thinking about the body,” Obaid said. “The process itself became a metaphor for how I experience movement, time and presence.”

One of her most personal works in the exhibition features a self-portrait layered against an older miniature painting. “I wanted to show how I exist in the present, but my body is also connected to the past,” she said.

Rabiya Malik’s work grows out of quiet observation. Inspired by pigeons she encounters daily on her windowsill and terrace, her miniature paintings explore themes of stillness, belonging and inner reflection.

“The intimacy I observe while sketching pigeons is very intense for me,” Malik expressed. “They represent peace and sanity in the middle of everyday chaos.”

For Rafia Baig, miniature art becomes a language of symbols. Using moons, rabbits and staircases, her work reflects life’s in-between moments, phases where progress feels invisible.

Curator Zareen Khan emphasised the need for platforms that prioritise work over reputation, particularly for women artists.

She also highlighted the challenges of organising exhibitions in Islamabad, from limited gallery spaces to funding constraints. She urges that two-week exhibitions await Islamabad’s public to visit and support the work of artists.

Published in Dawn, February 4th, 2026