Garden

Garden is a floor sculpture by Hamra Abbas inspired by Mughal gardens and idyllic scenes depicted in miniature paintings. Historically, their style intended to represent an earthly utopia in which humans coexist with nature in perfect harmony.

The imagery at work plays on the aesthetics of the desire for a blissful paradisiacal land, a feature found in many traditions worldwide. However, unlike a traditional garden, this garden has no vertical or horizontal enclosure. The earthly waterfalls, rocks, flowers and a tree that reaches into the heavenly stars above are all interconnected.

Using the traditional marble and stone inlay technique from Lahore, the work examines the symbolic significance of garden images in relation to architecture through its evocative power and aesthetics to communicate that which is beyond description.