“All art constantly aspires towards the condition of music” (Walter Pater, 1877) but very few visual artists seek to intentionally converge multiple art forms and tap into synesthetic abilities. Nashmia Haroon takes up the quest to construct visually what music does sonically. Her astute understanding of music animates her work through dense, kinetic compositions that sway in abstraction and representation, not completely rejecting the notion of a (recognizable) subject in pursuit of abstract forms.

Her work strives to achieve more than the usual integration of visual form and medium. Her painted marks evoke a sense of musicality, aspiring to create rhythm and tonal structures that can take thousands of forms. Color pigments are used as musical instruments to create nuanced two-dimensional compositions; arbitrary shapes and colors come together to bring harmony.

Rabeya Jalil
August 2020

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Sound.
The sound of love, of music, of memory, of freedom. When love is interwoven with the act of creating, the end result is sacred, it’s absolute, it’s unsullied. This magical realm of crafting can only be tapped into by establishing a multilayered connection with the universe through love.

Believe in the moment of connection. It will come. It won’t fail you.
It’ll bring you back to your nascence, it’ll make you unlearn, it’ll force you to submit, you’ll succumb to the force of nature. This abstract force, with a life of its own will leave an indelible mark on you.

Just let it be, let it grow. It must not be tamed; it must flow within you, it must find its own direction. Listening,learning, performing,expanding, it’s finding its way, it’s finding its path.

“The Marks of Sound” is the beginning of the journey that connects the thread of music to the visual. It sheds light on the interplay of both these mediums and how they bring each other to life.

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