The Open Studio / Zara Malik
Zara Malik
Before you know me
No body in the coat. Only branches where a face should be
An ochre sky, warm as a brick left in the sun.
A dark coat stands up on its own and waits.
Where the face should be, a small dry tree.
Ants climb the hem in a slow red line.
Near its feet they turn in rings, like ripples in mud.
White seeds open in the furrows.
Nobody has come to wear it yet.
The work
In Before you know me an empty coat stands in a ploughed field. Bare branches grow where a head should be. Ants climb its hem and circle the ground beside it. Zara Malik of Aligarh Muslim University makes this mixed media work in 2025. Malik often works with soil, dust, ash and fabric. The artist builds a surface by layering and covering. Here the coat and the field feel rough like earth. Malik says: "Many of my works come from questions rather than clear answers."
- Theme
- Identity and absence
- Material
- Mixed media
- Year
- 2025
- Edition
- No
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Aligarh Muslim University
- From
- Aligarh
- Code
- RC-456
In the artist’s words
I work with painting, photography, printmaking, installation, and found materials. A lot of my work starts from things I see or experience in everyday life memory, silence, identity, emotions, spirituality, and social realities. I often use materials like soil, dust, ash, coal, brick pieces, fabric, paper, and other found objects. I am interested in what these materials already carry their marks, textures, memories, and connection to a place. I like working with them physically, layering, breaking, covering, removing, and rebuilding things. Many of my works come from questions rather than clear answers. I think about what we see, what we ignore, and why we sometimes remain silent when something is…
