In her artistic practice, Shehzil Malik examines feminism and how it is linked to sociopolitical questions of gender-based violence, injustice, and colourism. Her practice is simultaneously influenced by American comic books and cartoons she watched when she was growing up, as well as Pakistani architecture, textiles, and clothing. In designing projects around social change, such as creating a feminist clothing line, which she claims gives women ownership over what they wear and how they dress, or in organizing participatory art and storytelling classes in public spaces, she centres community engagement and responsiveness in the everyday. Her work in the exhibition, Tribute to World Refugee Week (2023), is a textile print that contemplates and documents the devastation of war, displacement, and exile. Mailk’s practice pays close attention to the material and immaterial consequences of war by highlighting the precarious journeys migrants undertake when fleeing war, while still incorporating details such as personal touches to their clothing and the belongings they take with them as they unapologetically seek refuge in different countries. The role of women in these journeys is underscored, with several appearing at the front of the procession guiding those behind them. Through these layers of imagery, which highlight different perilous forms of migration, as seen in the resilience with which displaced persons move across both water and land, her work reaches for a new visual language midway between poetry and protest.

Work in the exhibition: Tribute to World Refugee Week (2023), textile print, 350 × 330 cm. Courtesy of the artist