My narrative paintings, that formed in dream logic, mainly evolved after my migration to the United States. Living a hybrid life, and in an area where communication plays a key role in the art world, I have experienced a stammering communication with, and shattered understanding of my surroundings, and of myself in the eye of others. This experience led me to a visual order that entailed various narrative units with literal or metaphorical links and in various knowledge layers, yet certainly open to interpretation.

— Iman Raad, 2020

In Iman Raad’s expansive mural, images cross cultures. Tasmanian tigers repeat like a glitching computer screen, eyes become butterflies, and pickles orbit in outer space. Apples morph into moons while fish transform into apples. Arranged in dynamic tessellations, this disparate material draws together ideas of migration, mutation, replacement and extinction.

Raad takes inspiration from Pakistani truck painters, often the drivers themselves, who individualise their vehicles with elaborate arrays of floral patterns and calligraphy. In these everyday artworks, Raad sees the trace of South Asian and Persian miniature painting — literally on the move, through busy city streets, the painted trucks encapsulate the evolution of artistic traditions over time, enriched by ongoing acts of translation and reinterpretation.