Journey is Taiwanese artist Amal Lin’s (b. 1992) debut solo exhibition. Lin studied watercolour and oil painting at a young age, and her interest in Middle Eastern art started when she was exposed to the Arabic language and calligraphy as an student at the University of Jordan. This fascination quickly turned into a passion as Lin enrolled in the Prince’s Foundation School of Traditional Arts in London to further her practice. Her paintings therefore draw heavily from the Persian miniature tradition, depicting the artist’s inner spiritual reality with extreme detail.

Persian miniatures, which are small, Persian-style paintings done on paper, are often seen used as illustrations or intended to be kept in an album called a muraqqa. Characterised by their vibrant colours due to the heavy use of mineral-based pigments, miniatures became a significant genre in Persian art around the thirteenth century. Their small size means that their owners can store them easily and choose who else can see them. This aspect of the works resulted in an intimate and personal viewing experience, as opposed to looking at wall paintings, the other dominating art form of the time.

The paintings in Journey are based on Lin’s own journey of recovery from a severe eating disorder. For the artist, the process of producing Persian miniatures demands absolute concentration: from grinding her own mineral pigments to burnishing shell gold details painted on hand-dyed paper, the repetitive movements required at each stage of the painting process is akin to meditation. In the process, Lin allows herself and her ego to dissolve and reveal what she sees in her inner reality.