Neighbours

Shahid Hassan Boni graduated from the National College of Arts Lahore in Miniature painting with a distinction in 2021. His work is an exploration of his own experiences and depicts his relationship with displacement. He spent his early days in the mountains close to nature and was exposed to a rural, communal lifestyle in contrast to his post-schooling days, which he spent in the chaos of big cities. This exposure made him scrutinize human behavior; it subsequently made him curious about human psychology, philosophy, and more specifically the impact of the environment on human nature and behavior.

His paintings embrace elements from Persian and Mughal miniature paintings. The compositions in his work are thoughtfully painted as he reflects upon his evolving psychological state. In some paintings, the figure is in action, while in the rest of the paintings; the figure may be seen observing, floating, or even simply existing in space. Architectural spaces are symbolic of emptiness and isolation in his paintings. These empty spaces, surrounded with dense foliage, which may be seen through interconnecting windows, represent the connection of the outer with the inner self. Through his work, he is trying to question whether he is connected to the world or if the connection is merely an illusion. Very thin layers of color are applied over meticulously rendered graphite drawings, giving the paintings a hazy feel. The absence of a figure in the paintings characterizes a sense of desolation and stillness.