Shahzia Sikander

Disruption as Rapture

In her piece, Disruption as Rapture, Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander animates the18th-century manuscript Gulshan-i ’Ishq (Rose Garden of Love). This love story traces the journeys of two star-crossed lovers who, having been separated, try to find their way back to each other. Ordinarily, museum displays of this manuscript can only show one page spread at a time. Sikander’s digital animation layers various images from the book and enlivens its scenes of lush gardens and decadent interiors. By highlighting the elaborate imagery and omitting the text, which was originally only written in the languages of the Muslim Indian elite, Sikander reclaims the power to share stories. Disruption as Rapture continues the artist’s career-spanning reinterpretations of miniature paintings—small-scale images included in illuminated manuscripts—and explorations of the connections between the art of South Asia and the West.