Side by Side / Imran Qureshi

Identifier:FA.B71.1918

Dimensions:The True Path: 8.3 x 10.9 in; The True Path: 21 x 27.5 cm; Moderate Enlightenment: 4.74 x 7.25 in; Moderate Enlightenment: 12 x 18 cm

Creation dates:2009

edited by: Sharmini Pereira, Anita Dawood

photographs by: Usman Javed, Marcus J. Leith

Subjects: Accordion books, Mughal, gilding, hardcover books, offset lithography, stamping

Description:This work consists of two books, "Moderate Enlightenment" and "The True Path." The former takes inspiration from an Islamic prayer book and the latter from a children's connect-the-dots book. Ideas of religious and educational instruction inform both.

"Moderate Enlightenment": Hardcover foiled stamped on Mondial with gold gilding; 20 color plates; offset lithography on Magno Satin 150gsm and Super Snow Bright 80 gsm; 44 pp.

"'Moderate Enlightenment' brings together a series of twenty paintings begun by Imran Qureshi in 2006. Each work uses the technique and styles of the Mughal miniature painting tradition and is painted using opaque watercolour on wasli (hand-made, layered paper). The images depict a variety of piously dressed male and femlae figures engaged in banal and everyday activities." -- publisher's note

"The True Path": Accordion book; offset lithography on Cyclus Offset 170gsm; split duct on Mukim 500gsm; 40 color plates; 82pp.

"'The True Path'...invites the viewer to trace the path of an invisible line by joining the numbered dots. The line meanders through an imaginary landscape that combines contemporary subject matter with the technique and motifs of the Mughal miniature painting tradition. Like children's dot-to-dot books, that used images to each basic counting skills, Qureshi uses a sequence of dots to guide the reader along a path that although rarely 'straight', negotiates its way through an earthly terrain of life's physical and spiritual challenges." -- publisher's note