mehreenmurtaza

[mehreenmurtaza]

The Artist's Studio as the Alchemist's Laboratory Astro-alchemical signature reading on request by the artist Mehreen Murtaza. This study is part of the on-going research 'Mantiq Under the Willow Tree; Crimson Intellect' by Mantiq of the Mantis 2021-25. Please contact the artist to receive a reading

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“My Lord! Reveal Yourself to me so I may see You.”

Surah Al-A’raf  7:143

The invocation to begin the process of creation itself is an invocation to return; a return to one self by remembering the very essence of being – to be breathed life within once more.

Like a fever dream, drawing in altered states whilst receiving symbols unbeknownst prior, a breathing, living archive of signifiers began to develop over the course of five years since 2019. Each drawing marked a moment, where moment by moment; from one image to the next, a path continued to unravel, bearing inner secrets. In search of these mysteries and their connections, I began the process of self-discovery where a confrontation with the self was sought at numerous stages.

My practice evolved with the on-going research at Mantiq of the Mantis, a creative research space co-founded with Sabeen Jamil in Lahore, Pakistan since 2016. The research focuses on ‘the revelatory nature of knowledge, and the potential or action of the creative soul to create impressions of images it receives from the archetypal realm.’ Imagination plays a fundamental role in reaching the Truth. The seeker goes through a process of individuation to reach the ultimate level of knowledge through her/his intuitive faculty. This is when and where the individual receives ‘calls’ in the form of creative or divine inspiration (Ilham) or occurrence/visitation (Wārid) from an eternal source, or the collective unconscious and in consequence the imagination is ‘pulled’ upward, beyond forms of material things.’

With the unwavering support of friends and mentors, Sabeen Jamil and Mirela Peerzada who have facilitated this practice through various methodologies, the studio space transmuted into an alchemist’s laboratory where images act as gateways: passages and transitory movements between realms; abstractions acting upon the artist.  The drawings are portals in themselves, inviting the viewer to look beyond the veil and into an Imaginal realm [1]

[1] “Ibn al-'Arabi ‘s remarkable discussions and conceptions of the "Imagination" (al-khayâl) are metaphysical ruminations that do not render conceptual and logical and rational forms of understanding the Imagination. James W. Morris explains, “the Arabic expression al-khayâl, refers most often, in ordinary contexts, to what we would ordinarily call an "image" or "object of imagination," and ultimately to the actual underlying reality of all the "imaginal" (not "imaginary") objects of our perception in virtually all forms and domains.

James W. Morris. This is an unrevised, pre-publication version of an article or translation which has subsequently been published, with revisions and corrections, as Spiritual Imagination and the "Liminal" World: Ibn 'Arabi on the Barzakh, in POSTDATA (Madrid), vol.15, no. 2 (1995), pp. 42-49 and 104-109 (Spanish).

Blueprints of the Soul

These blue prints are part of Mantiq of the Mantis’ growing research on revelatory knowledge received from the soul’s faculty of imagination, Mantiq Under The Willow Tree: The Crimson Intellect (2019 and on-going).

“The impulse to draw was irrepressible. As I picked up a pastel and placed my hand on the paper, I felt possessed! It was a moment of true surrender where my rational mind had no control over what was to come and a primordial force had taken over. I was guided to mark the empty sheet with different motions in varying rhythms. I observed as the hand directed what was being drawn and shown to me. Every stroke arrived with certainty. With each passing mark, a new meaning unraveled. And as each mark mapped its terrain across the large expanse, a story upon a story upon a story revealed itself until the image was complete. The profundity of this moment felt like a cornucopia opus had arrived; a tapestry of colors and form transcending space-time, carrying the seed of the Orphic Egg.

And there have been dry periods of intensive reflection and research, interspersed with impatience and anxiety yet most importantly, a diligent and persistent practice to tame this unbridled force. It is a practice to sharpen the mind, strengthen the body and maintain an undulating rhythm so as not to miss the subtle moments of comprehension that dawn after the completion of every cycle of release. As one continues, the mind and body expands its threshold as a container of the knowledge pouring in. Each drawing is a meditation where repetition evolves into an act of remembrance: what is apprehended in a moment can just as easily be swept back into the recesses. It is in search of these moments of intimacy where I the journey begins every night, starting exactly where I first began. The first point is marked as the zero-sum, a forgetting of all that was before. Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Raheem. The first point collapses unto itself. The silent sound of graphite echoes across the paper; an invitation to meet myself mid-point, crossing an imaginary threshold until my synesthetic synapses slip into the center of the universal grid of potentialities. To navigate this space is recognition of myself as the observer and the observed. From there on, every mark made feels like a gradual submerging into depths unknown. An assimilation occurs where every fragment received, laced on top of the other, enmeshed as light lattices - merging and emerging as beacons point to both old and new pathways. An aspect of the grander blueprint receives itself,  sometimes re-visiting the same pathways whilst revealing different vantage points. Each mark, a reminder to stay present. Every echo, a sonar search for murmuring secrets. Each time, pockets of experiences ebb and flow, teaching me how to swim with the current, learn to submerge despite the recoil to a fear of the unknown. This back and forth trying to hold myself steady. Until a point of poise emerges, and the felt sensation of a flow-state is guided by the waters, true surrender to the spirit of creation.

By the first ray of every dawn, an opening to the self makes itself known. “

Excerpt edited from ‘The Creative Life Force’ by Mehreen Murtaza 27/11/23

Qalb

unfolding –enfolding-unfolding: activated geometry on loop

2019 and on-going

During the first year of Covid in 2019, a series of archaic geometric symbols were revealed through a series of meditative practices. I then began to observe how each symbol unfolded its meaning. The meaning (and function) is revealed through an inward and outward observation of each movement.

Here, the geometric space is transmuted into an inward journey with conscious engagement - pivoted around how the creative process of engaging with geometry can precipitate personal insight and individual healing. 

Qalb, is a journey of the artist embodying knowledge through the inner senses in the quest to liberate the heart. Qalb evolved through a series of transmissions of knowledge and hopes to continue this chain of transmission. It is a reminder of our relationship to the self and therefore to the whole, a blueprint embedded in the sacred foundation of all things created. To experience the video, contact: murtaza.mehreen2@gmail.com or mantiqofthemantis@gmail.com

“Hu”

Audio on loop

This resonating affirmation of the divine unity is a remembrance in the belief of the oneness of God (Tawhid).

Nocturne curated by Uma Ray 9th Jan - 8th Feb 2025 Birla Academy of Art & Culture, Kolkatta

The light of the day overshadows stories that often come alive only in the darkest hours of night. Lives that have thrived in the depths, lurked in the shadows only to come out ushering in a magical confluence of light, sound and happenings.In the chasmic silence of the night a different world emerges from deep slumber, shedding its inhibitions. They may be overlooked, misrepresented or misunderstood as creatures of the underworld, shrouded in mystery that fascinates us, titillates our imagination but no more. These nocturnal creatures unbeknownst to us, will follow their cyclical and habitual movements as altered beings. They will emerge silently to participate in the ongoing process of procreation and regeneration. Nature has its peculiar ways to play out its magic.

Truth can take up many forms - they may be esoteric, obscured from view or existent and palpable. This exhibition aims to bear all lights upon the hidden through the seminal works by artists who explore the world of the unknown.

Uma Ray Curator

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Goonj: Echoing Mantis & Duurbeen: Moving Images on 29th March 2018 at Mantiq of the Mantis A day of surreal sounds, time travel and traversing the real to the irreal! Goonj: Echoing Mantis launched its first event on 29th March 2018 at Mantiq of the Mantis with Mehreen Murtaza's live installation '...how will you conduct yourself in the company of trees' and Duurbeen: Moving Images screened a video by

Hira Nabi

'what do the trees tell us?' Mantiq of the Mantis introduces an on going experience of encountering sound through multiple dimensions that reframe our everyday soundscape. Here, we escape the habitual notion of time and space, gradually re-discovering the breathing of sound that seems so vast, almost infinite and glacial. We consider the poetics of aurality through a combination of the sonic effects of anamnesis and decontextualization.A special thank you to everyone who helped MotM with this event!

Komal Ghazali 

Ammar Ali Siddiqui for the documentation,

Hira Nabi

for sharing her beautiful video,

Maham Suhail

and

Hanna Gardell

for their spontaneous performances with the singing plants and

Nour Nazifa Aslam

and

Rashid Rana

Rashid Rana Studio

for their wonderful presence.‘What do the trees tell us?’(duration: 17 mins) by Hira NabiThe video will be screened twice on Thursday 26th March: 4.30pm and 6.30 pm.Presented as a video diptych, it moves into the preserved gardens and the ruins of what were once gardens. The video’s narrative contemplates the significance of empire and colonialism, and the path that Lahore has embarked upon towards modernity.This work has previously been shown at Twelve Gates Arts Gallery in Philadelphia, USA.Hira Nabi’s visual work ‘All That Perishes on the Edge of Land’ was on display at Alhamra Arts Council, Mall till the 31st of March as part of the Lahore Biennale.Hira Nabi is an artist, filmmaker and researcher. Her artistic and research-based practice spans film, video, audio, and text. She holds a BA in video and cultural studies from Hampshire College, and an MA in media and cinema studies from The New School. Her work looks at repositories of memory in urban landscapes, contested or imagined histories, labor, and a keen observation of the built and natural environment.'...how will you conduct yourself in the company of trees' by Mehreen Murtaza is a live sonic installation curated by Sabeen Jamil

Set up in Baagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Garden), Lahore as part of Lahore Biennale till 31st March on a hill top where a Banyan / Bargad / Bori Tree has been living, listening and holding memories for almost over 60 years. The tree has been given a voice through human technology which converts electro-magnetic signals to sound. The Bargad sings to us as we move, interact and connect with it. What can we learn by listening to our silent companions?Mehreen Murtaza works across a range of media to explore the intersecting worlds of technology, nature, science and spirituality. Mehreen is an artist based in Lahore, Pakistan. She has exhibited her works internationally and received many grants, awards and scholarships to execute her artwork. She is also the co-founder of Mantiq of the Mantis, an experimental publishing house and creative space in Lahore.

@mehreen.murtaza @mantiqofthemantis

http://scoreforafilm.tumblr.com

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Ice-walk by @sanarukshi at @bnu_svad_official @bnulahore Poetics of performance #ice #heat #sensate #temporal #shoestofit #barefeet #earth #kisstheground #heatwave #lahore #bnu #teaching (at Beaconhouse National University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CQe8UnBnO1N/?utm_medium=tumblr

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Meditations on Time @bnu_svad_official (at Beaconhouse National University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMeby__HwJg/?igshid=127hlxfv5xu3b

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A supra sensible realm. Poetics of Performance: in praise of vulnerability. @bnu_svad_official . #performanceart #bnu #love #unity #synchronicity #poise #vulnerabilityisstrength #mirroring #reflection #meditation #repetition #gesture #vibratilemovement (at Beaconhouse National University) https://www.instagram.com/p/CMeZjXvnIxk/?igshid=srima0wvlq89

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An in-situ sonic installation was set up in Baagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Garden), Lahore, March 2018 on a hill top where a Banyan / Bargad / Bodhi Tree has been living, listening and holding memories for almost over 60 years. The tree has been given a voice through human technology which converts electro-magnetic signals to sound. The Bargad sings to us as we move, interact and connect with it. What can we learn by listening to our silent companions?The recordings in this compilation are from a live interaction of the public with the Bargad Tree taken on 21st March and 24th March 2018. (Maham S.) recorded a session of her singing with the plants. As Maham sang, the plants chimed in response creating a beautiful concerto.

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As the vevers or sacred symbols are drawn upon the floor, the ceremony is initiated. The ritual dances begin, climaxing into possession. As a loa – or god takes over or “mounts” one of Deren’s subjects, the motion of the body takes on a different rhythm and shape. The body and movements appear animated as if with an otherworldly force or power. Deren’s camera records soul, mystery, and magic. It is part of the realm of Myth, which Deren defined as “the facts of the mind made manifest in a fiction of matter“.

Divine Horsemen: The living Gods of Haiti (filmed between 1947 -1954) A film by Maya Deren and Teji Ito, USA, 1985, 16mm, black and white, 54 mins.

On becoming excerpt from “In The Mirror of Maya Deren” 2001 by Martina Kudlacek

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To listen to recordings of the Bargad, click here The recordings in this compilation are from a live interaction of the public with the Bargad Tree taken on 21st March and 24th March 2018.

[mehreenmurtaza]

We witnessed the Bargad’s (Banyan tree’s) transformative power as we shared secrets, stories and songs.

Every tree is identical in DNA and connected to a single root system. As an organism, nature is a slowly moving creature capable of expanding our concepts of the natural, from vast open landscapes to the covert enormity of this individual living entity that is partly obscured underground. What we, as humans, perceive as being a forest, is in fact, a single organism. Roots outstretched from beneath the ground towards the skies, looking like an alien creature from another planet with its elephant skin bark, the Bargad has resiliently endured the history of our own species. We murmured mysteries incantations and transformed precisely through the Bargad’s capacity to withstand weathered conditions. We recognize in our exchanges with the Bargad a meeting with the numinous, that which is beyond all description. Silence is our response to the presence of the divine. Silence always cloaks those moments when words are neither adequate nor necessary.

“…how will you conduct yourself in the company of trees” at Baagh-e-Jinnah curated by @sabeenjam as part of @lahorebiennalefoundation #LB01 2018

Photographs courtesy the artist, Mehreen Murtaza,  Sabeen Jamil, Komal Ghazaali, Ammar Siddiqui and Lahore Biennale Foundation 2018.

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"...how will you conduct yourself in the company of trees" at Baagh-e-Jinnah curated by @sabeenjam as part of @lahorebiennalefoundation #LB01 

An in-situ sonic installation was set up in Baagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Garden), Lahore, March 2018 on a hill top where a Banyan / Bargad / Bodhi Tree has been living, listening and holding memories for almost over 60 years. The tree has been given a voice through human technology which converts electro-magnetic signals to sound. The Bargad sings to us as we move, interact and connect with it. What can we learn by listening to our silent companions?

[mehreenmurtaza]

Jamming with the plants at Mantiq of the Mantis ! (click here for video) Sabeen Jamil plays a semi-modular synthesizer, Sahar Ahmed playing a customized Ukranian Hangdrum as the plants respond to live music and human interaction

 #LB01 #mehreenmurtaza #bts #comingsoon #baghejinnah #lawrencegarden

A post shared by Mehreen Murtaza (@mehreen.murtaza) on Mar 17, 2018 at 4:47am PDT

The perfect tree finds us at Baagh-e-Jinnah (Lawrence Gardens, Lahore) in preparation for an outdoor installation

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“…how will you conduct yourself in the company of trees” 

2017-18 Manchester Art Gallery

To communicate in silence.

Giorgio Agamben, Language & Death: The Place of Negativity translated by Karen E. Pinkus and Michael Hardt

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