This series of miniature paintings explore the unfolding of ishq, the love that dissolves the self and reveals something far more luminous. The cypress tree stands at the heart of each work, a figure long celebrated in Persian gardens, Urdu poetry, Arabic mystical writings and the visual traditions of the Indian subcontinent.

It carries the posture of the true seeker. Upright yet slightly inclined, the cypress recalls the adab (humility) of the devotee whose heart softens before the Divine, mirroring the soul that bends not from burden but from love. The blossoms that entwine it speak of the yearning and longing of the Beloved. Their brief bloom reminds us of the fragile beauty of each spiritual moment. Rhythmic movement and transformation echo the traveller’s passage through Fana (dissolution of the ego) and into Baqa (abiding in the Divine), shedding the ego and entering a quieter, more enduring presence.

Insan e Kamil reflects the fully realised human whose being becomes a garden of harmony. This symbolism mirrors the movement from Fana to Baqa and into the possibility of Insan e Kamil, where the self is refined enough to recognise unity in every breath.