The Open Studio / Zara Malik
Zara Malik
Mujiza
Every white line here is wood the artist cut away
Red sits at the top like late heat over a hill.
Letters lean along the edge of the block.
Below, the wood breaks into water that cannot settle.
Two whirlpools turn, slow as eyes opening.
Stones gather on the right, white and close together.
Everything the knife took away is now the light.
The work
Mujiza is a woodcut print from 2024 by Zara Malik, an artist from Aligarh Muslim University in Aligarh. In a woodcut, every white mark is a place where wood is cut away. Here the cuts make lettering, a small mountain, lines that move like water and a field of pebble shapes. The ink moves from deep red at the top to black below. Malik sometimes starts from ideas in Islamic texts, 'not as a way of explaining religion, but as a way to think about compassion'.
- Theme
- Script and landscape
- Material
- Woodcut print
- Year
- 2024
- Edition
- No
- Framed
- No
- About the artist
- Aligarh Muslim University
- From
- Aligarh
- Code
- RC-454
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…
