A selection of original works from Be Home Here, a 140-page book of images by Mala Iqbal will be on view at Twelve Gates Arts. This is the first time the works will be shown since their publication, and it is the first time Iqbal's work will be exhibited at 12G.

The works were done in gouache on paper over the course of three years, inspired by the artist's daily life and musings. The viewer is encouraged to create their own stories about the repeated figures and sometimes mysterious scenarios throughout the collection. Iqbal notes, "There is a wanderer, a walker in the woods, a hiker, a hobo, a drifting figure, a refugee, a seeker, a guide, a lost soul... There are landscapes of the imagination and of domestic objects, of moments in time and of fables outside time." The pieces in the series move forward with the same fantastical imagery and imaginary characters associated with Iqbal's work, but her usual lush coloration is replaced here by the pared down intensity of black gouache. 

Additionally the show will include two new large works on paper in full color. Both display an uncertain, haunting and surprisingly vast landscape, into one of which refugees appear to be running with such perspective that the viewer finds him/herself drawn into the state of mind and situation. 

Mala Iqbal is a first-generation American of Pakistani German descent. She earned a BA from Columbia University, where she studied Visual Art and English; she earned an MFA in Painting from Rhode Island School of Design. Iqbal has exhibited work in the United States and internationally since 2001.