'Beyond the Page' explores how the traditions of South Asian miniature painting have been reclaimed and reinvented by modern and contemporary artists, taken forward beyond the pages of illuminated manuscripts to experimental forms that include installations, sculpture, and film.
Hamra Abbas's 'All Rights Reserved' (2004) is one of four digital prints responding to the image of Prince Dara Shikoh’s wedding. Abbas, in a nod to the painting’s physical removal from India, here removes the gifts from the wedding guests. In another panel she depicts only the gifts, and in the other two she reproduces the copyright terms and title page from an art catalogue, underlying not just how important the actual objects are, but also how access to them is contained.
The exhibition 'Beyond the Page: South Asian Miniature Painting and Britain, 1600 to Now' is on view at MK Gallery in Milton Keynes, UK, through 28 January 2024.
