Footnotes

Provenance
Property from a private collection, UK.

'The demon would live in a cave, and so Hazaras resorted to living in caves in the area of Bamyan. Just as Hazaras are referred to in polemical texts as ugly creatures, as rebellious people who eat rats and insects, so were the demons in the Shahnama... So I started painting the demon as a collective portrait of my ancestors and my own self.' (https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/interviews/demons-of-otherness-khadim-ali, Accessed 7th April 2025)

Ali's Untitled (From Rustam) is a compelling work that forms part of his ongoing engagement with the epic narrative of the Shahnameh, the Persian Book of Kings. In this series, Ali reimagines the legendary hero Rustam not as a symbol of imperial strength, but as a figure fraught with contradictions, recast in the light of contemporary trauma, displacement, and identity. The artist, who is of Hazara descent and grew up in Pakistan after his family fled persecution in Afghanistan, draws on traditional miniature painting techniques to address the violence and marginalisation experienced by his community on both sides of the border.

'The work depicts demons, and suggests that the legendary character of Rustam has been usurped in contemporary times as justification for hostility and bloodshed, his heroism now ascribed to those who perpetrate violence and domination. In a broader sense, the work reflects on the upheavals and crises that emerge from lingering difference... In its reference to the narrative and lyrical traditions of the Persian people and the region, Ali's work recollects both the triumph of civilizations past and the turmoil and aftermath of conquest. Yet in spite of loss, there linger traces of individual and cultural memory, of which the return of the Rustam is one. Layered in these works are excerpts from epic poems and literary references to Persian and Afghan history and culture, keys to meaning that the violence of contemporary conflict cannot efface...Lotuses are also depicted in this work, referencing the 6th century AD Buddha's at Bamiyan in Afghanistan, whom the Taliban also destroyed in 2001.

Following the style of miniature painting, and in particular the technique of neem rang (half-colour), the artist uses traditional methods of production including pigmentation with gold and silver leaf. This traditional South Asian aesthetic, now also marked by Persian influences, is a form of Mughal painting that was once used in illustrated texts, primarily to represent royalty, battles, and legends. The rich and sensitive detailing of these historical portraits is, like the literary epic, revived in Ali's work, which accords the traditional practice a contemporary relevance by aligning its cultural significance with the circumstances of today.' (J. Yap, UBS MAP Curator for South East and South Asia, Guggenheim Museum-
https://www.guggenheim.org/artwork/31232)

To see other works from the series that form part of museum collections, see the Guggenheim (Accession No 2012.143, ), The Museum of Contemporary Art Australia (Accession No. 2013.71A-D), the Victoria & Albert Museum (Accession No. IS.8-2008) and Queensland Art Gallery (Accession No. 2006.172.004).

To see a similar work sold on these premises see Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art, 7th June 2012, lot 60.