Sophiya Khwaja

Rather like dance notation, lines between points overlay this mass of figures. A figure at the left breaks away, its multiple iterations seeming to track a fall. Trained in South Asian classical dance, artist Sophiya Khwaja represents emotion through the body. This work may suggest the sense of safety within numbers and the excitement and risk of pulling away.

Inspired by comic-book illustration, Khwaja’s linework tapers and swells with the contours of the body. She says this approach “is somewhat exaggerated and deliberate, making it a vital tool in the first step away from the reality.”

–Jan Howard, Houghton P. Metcalf Jr. Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs