Nusra Latif Qureshi trained in Lahore in the Mughal miniature painting tradition and has developed a distinct and rich visual arts practice. Her new works employ motifs taken from these traditions juxtaposed with contemporary forms and media to reveal Qureshi’s personal responses to societies in turmoil. Her title, Views from The Gold Pavilion, imagines an elevated vantage point, an exclusive perch to look down upon the circus beneath. A pavilion offers a spectacular space for observation, separated from the masses – though its walls are perforated, letting in the rain, dust or hot wind gusts which connect it’s inhabitants to the civilization jostling in the dust below.

A privileged vantage point is further expressed in this series of jewel like oval works laden in gold and silver leaf. The oval is one of the most recognisable motifs from the neo-miniature painting movement and here they encircle Qureshi’s imagery as a means to contain her reflections on violence and menace which sit alongside reflections on apathy or emptiness.

Highly decorative guns appear in this series, as Qureshi continues an ongoing investigation into the normalisation of violence exemplified in the perceived need to fortress and arm communities and the overt display of weaponry. Acknowledging a long history of embellished pistols and rifles, Qureshi attempts to undermine the menace of the object and perhaps tackle the threat that they pose, by delicately adorning them. Her guns are camouflaged within this series, contained within the adornment they cleverly expose the ease of an audience to engage with apathy.