Transmission | نشریات

Suleman Aqeel Khilji’s exhibition ‘Transmission’ / نشریات at White Cube Paris features figurative paintings that explore the indeterminate nature of memory and the passing of time. Khilji works on various surfaces, including linen, found book covers, and used cigarette packets, suggesting that recollection is provisional and subject to interference. His paintings draw on memories of places like Quetta and Lahore, and train journeys through Balochistan, treating landscape as vulnerable to distortions of time and distance. The figures in his work appear to exist in a liminal space, neither fully resolved nor entirely dissolved.

The artist creates a disquieting atmosphere through the gradual accumulation of thin layers of distemper, with semi-translucent pigments. This process is described as an excavation of latent content from photographs, memories, or imagined situations. Khilji’s palette, featuring pigments like Pozzuoli Earth and Persian indigo, is rooted in the geology and architecture of Pakistan. His work references ancient painting traditions, such as those found in the Bamiyan caves, and incorporates elements like marble dust. The exhibition also includes miniature portraits on cigarette packets, evoking Mughal painting traditions, and works that reference the written word as a carrier of meaning across time.