Ayessha Quraishi's Exhibition 'Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows, installation view 2, Koel Gallery, 2024, by Ayessha Quraishi

Installation view 2, Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows, Koel gallery, 2024

Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows

Koel Gallery, Karachi, 2024


Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows reflects on the fragile idea of home. As floods, fires, and rising seas continue to reshape landscapes and communities, these works consider how stability is redrawn, and how memory and presence endure within impermanence.

For me, home is not bound to architecture or geography. It is a spiritual and energetic presence—a resonance that connects us to one another, the earth, and to the returning self. In this interconnectedness, we are, in essence, walking each other home.


Abode and The Shift

Together, these works reflect on the mutable idea of shelter. Abode gestures toward belonging and rootedness, while The Shift evokes movement, transition, and the reshaping of what it means to dwell. In dialogue, they acknowledge home as both grounding and unfolding.


202410: Abode, Ink on board, 48 x 64 in (121.9 x 162.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202410: Abode, Ink on paper, 48 x 64 in (121.9 x 162.6 cm), 2024.

202412: The Shift, Ink on board, 48 x 64 in (121.9 x 162.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202412: The Shift, Ink on paper, 48 x 64 in (121.9 x 162.6 cm), 2024.

202411: What is, is as it is, Ink on board, 48 x 64 in (121.9 x 162.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202411: What is, is as it is, Ink on paper, 48 x 64 in (121.9 x 162.6 cm), 2024.

What Remains (2023– )

Created with ink on sun-stained paper, this ongoing series carries fragile imprints, stains, and shadows that shift between presence and absence. Emerging in response to the floods of 2022 in Pakistan, the works reflect on loss, impermanence, and the marks time leaves behind. More than remnants of what has passed, they lean towards continuity and transformation.


20234-202315:

What Remains (series), Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm) each, 2023

20237: What Remains 4, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20235: What Remains 2

20235: What Remains 2, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20237: What Remains 4

20236: What Remains 3, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20236: What Remains 3

20239: What Remains 6, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20239: What Remains 6

20238: What Remains 5, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20238: What Remains 5

202310: What Remains 7, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202310: What Remains 7

202312: What Remains 9, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202312: What Remains 9

202311: What Remains 8, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202311: What Remains 8

202315: What Remains 12, Ink on Sun-stained paper, 11 x 15 in (27.9 x 38.1 cm), 2023, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

202315: What Remains 12

Listen to the dragonfly whose days are numbered few

Evoking the fragile presence of the dragonfly, these works reflect on temporality. Homes, like lives, remain suspended between arrival and passing. Within Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows, they move between fragility and endurance.


20248: Listen to the dragonfly whose days are numbered few. 1, Ink on paper, 12.6 x 18.8 in (32.0 x 47.8 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20248: Listen to the dragonfly whose days are numbered few 1, ink on paper, 12.6 x 18.8 in (32.0 x 47.8 cm) , 2024

20249: Listen to the dragonfly whose days are numbered few. 2, Ink on paper, 12.6 x 18.8 in (32.0 x 47.8 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20249: Listen to the dragonfly whose days are numbered few 1, ink on paper, 12.6 x 18.8 in (32.0 x 47.8 cm) , 2024

Fallen I–V

Gathered from the Astore Valley, fragments of bark form the basis of this series. Each piece carries the quiet history of place, its growth, rupture, and endurance—existing as both relic and witness to natural and human timelines.


20241: Fallen 1 - Astore Valley, birch bark and ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20241: Fallen 1, Astore Valley, birch bark and ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024.

20244: Fallen 4 - Astore Valley, birch bark and ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20244: Fallen 4, Astore Valley, birch bark and ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024.

20245: Fallen 5 - Astore Valley, birch bark and ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20245: Fallen 5, Astore Valley, birch bark and ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024.

Unscripted I–II

Gestural and open-ended, these works embrace porousness, memory, and becoming. They leave space for the unexpected, reminding us of the fludity of experience and the possibilities that arise in openness.


20246: Unscripted 1, Ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20246: Unscripted 1, Ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024.

20247: Unscripted 2, Ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024, painting by Ayessha Quraishi

20246: Unscripted 1, Ink on hemp paper, 12 x 16 in (30.5 x 40.6 cm), 2024.

Installation view 3, Ayessha Quraishi's paintings at 'Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows', Koel Gallery, 2024

Installation view 3, Koel Gallery, 2024

Exhibition 'Temporary Homes Cast Temporary Shadows' Installation view 8, paintings by Ayessha Quraishi, Koel Gallery, 2024

Installation view 8, Koel Gallery, 2024

Nayyar: an art story, documentary by Ayessha Quraishi, Koel Gallery, 2024

NAYYAR: An Art Story, Documentary, Koel Gallery, 2024