Caligraphic

It is like forging a stronger bond among citizens of the two countries," said, Ali Alammari, an Arabic caligraphic artist from Saudi Arabia who is participating in the exhibition.

The title refers to a caligraphic line that circles around the piece with strokes radiating from it; it speaks to the interconnectedness of all things.

Titled 'Caligraphic Abstraction', the inaugural show has been curated by artist and art historian Iftikhar Dadi who has collected works from Shemza's early to late career that demonstrate his contribution to - and investigation of - the role of calligraphy within Modernism in Pakistan and the UK.

The book includes a few examples of this zoomorphic calligraphy, such as the "caligraphic tiger" (sic) on the dedicatory page.

The rippling pale-blue and browned-wheat surface of Black Mulch/Storm suggests a pool into which a curtain of dark caligraphic marks fall like driving rain.