‘In Sickness and In Health’ 2022. Acrylic, charcoal and chalk on canvas. 120 x 120cm. I have such an attachment to this piece. When I first started, I knew I had to create on the inside, I knew it was this part of me which needed to be recognised. The front, I didn’t know would impact me in such a way. It was supposed to be yet another pleasant cover. Instead, I created a spokesperson of the woman inside, and upon completion, there was only a feeling of which is comparable to intense, deep love. I cried for 10 minutes straight after photographing. I gave myself room to speak. For a while I felt this disconnect with my work, meaning there was a disconnect within myself. The Play/Pause series is about connecting with one’s womanhood and reclaiming, developing innate sensuality and playfulness. I didn’t realise how far the penny dropped in the well. To become, you must listen and accept the shadow to make way for light. Nothing and everything is perfect. I almost called this piece ‘The Longest Marriage’, as the longest relationship anyone has with anyone, is with the self. But society has a habit of adding a male narrative where women create sacred spaces. - This is where the meat of the land lies. You’ve dressed her in parts heavy Bought her near edge of cliffs Ready to throw overboard All before, there’s been given a chance To hear her say The most important parts of all The ocean we breathe to sea which drifts Feeds the rock we stand on Undress, speak clearly and cry We never knew the land could be So different This poem is written on the back of another piece. However felt right that both pieces are paired. One feels like an arrival of the other.

Shumaiya Khan

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Shumaiya Khan is an artist, writer and creative. Born 1990, in Bradford, West Yorkshire to a British Bengali family, before moving to London to pursue higher education where she resides to this day. Khan comes from a design-led background, earning her BA Hons in Design from Goldsmiths, University of London. Although she has always painted, she has only fully resumed her art practice in April of 2020. Khan is self-taught and her work has always had an element of experimentation with textures and motion within an abstract framework built to engage emotion within her audience.  Within her earlier critical theory design work, this has translated into recording statistics in visually fluid, quantifiable and measurable ways, via the use of ink, ceramics, and plants. Between 2010 to 2019, Khan’s sole focus was her creative & art direction roles within fashion, homeware and beauty.  Khan produces contemporary abstract expressionist pieces via the use of acrylic, charcoal, chalk, and poetry across canvas and paper. At times, especially with her larger-scale abstract pieces, pigment is worked and layered into pieces over a series of days or weeks. Different viscosities of pigment are considered, adding dimension and rich texture into the vast worlds, solar systems, and oceans she creates. In juxtaposition to her full-colour works, Khan produces fast-paced, raw canvas and paper pieces. Brush strokes and charcoal lines are created at different paces, some with more initially thought-through intention than others. Khan sees the physicality’s of her visual painting language working towards an ever evolving image in her mind.  Khan’s work is based in emotional and metaphysical storytelling. Her practice explores juxtapositions around dynamic behaviours in the sphere of; the relationship with ourselves, feminine expression & sensuality, societal interaction, morality, innate faith & spirituality. Khan often calls upon the viewers to look inside themselves and ask what they feel. She has stated previously that she is compelled to create, being both a meditative and explorative practice for her.