Afnan’s most recent series, Veiled, brought her international critical acclaim. Following 9/11, when the world was focusing on the literal veiling of women in Islam, Afnan instead showed other kind of cover up – not of bodies or faces, but of concealing truth, character, feelings and intentions. She transformed the emotion behind everyday phrases – veiled anxiety, veiled agendas, veiled threats – into ink and gouache writings on paper that she covered with delicate coloured gauze. The result is a cloud that hovers over the text to express something more unsettling: Veiled Melancholia, Veiled Emotion, Veiled Confrontation, Veiled Strategy and Veiled Nonsense.