Ayesha Sultana translates her observations into abstract forms through meticulous drawings and sculptures. Her graphite drawings involve numerous applications of soft lead, using sticks, powder and brushes on layers of paper to develop seductive metallic textures. The thickly rendered sheets are then carefully cut, folded and fixed into sculptural compositions, creating rich combinations of shape, depth and subtle shifts in tone. With a contrast between hand-drawn surfaces and seemingly rigid sculptural shapes, these works explore the interplay between two- and three-dimensional forms.

Sultana’s works are not architectural studies; however, they are informed by the built environment of the densely populated Bangladeshi city of Dhaka. She is inspired by Dhaka’s constantly changing streets with their conglomerate of shapes, voids and textures, such as the corrugated tinned roofing seen throughout the city that originally inspired her graphite works. Sultana attempts to bring these observations into her practice, occasionally working from photographs or with collected objects, and also considering smells, sounds, objects and materials that are in plain sight, but which are often overlooked.