The exhibition Coming Home is rooted in an exploration of my British Indian Muslim background and a questioning of where to call home? As a second generation immigrant I have been brought up in a country that my mother does not relate too. This condition has led to a constant attempt to reconcile contrasting environments. The oil pastel drawings I create introduce these reconciliations through new make belief landscapes, overflowing with different depictions of home. The landscapes sit balanced between places, culture, geography and weather filtering down into the way of dress, the languages spoken and the food eaten. The drawings pull strongly from the complexity of heritage, our colonial past and present, the nearer horrors of associated extremism within the Islamic community and the position and impact on women. Women, in particular, are the focal point of these worlds. They are shown in constant navigation and search for autonomy within differing cultures. I consider myself a visual mirror, attempting to breakdown pre-assumed notions and unapologetically representing the unfamiliar everydayness and struggles of life in my world. Using combined natural landscapes and unconventional architecture I tell stories routed in the realities of being a Muslim woman yet distorted within a placeless paradise. Elements of our hidden community, moments of the country that colonised us and everyday conflicts derived from traditions exist in these places for singular examination.

My body of work explores these themes through large-scale oil pastel and oil stick drawings. The layering of colour, fragmented detailing and multidimensionality of the pieces is used to evoke a tension and tightness. Craving an understanding of the constant negotiation and claustrophobia felt in existing within these carefully balanced environments. The composition itself is cautiously constructed, using symbols and veils to reveal moments of conflict while hiding that which still feels unresolvable.