Tahir Karmali’s work moves fluidly across photography, sculpture, papermaking, and sound, confronting themes of migration, labor, identity, and colonial legacies. He investigates everyday materials and objects, revealing the hidden histories and socio-political forces embedded within them. Karmali’s works often transform these materials into objects of beauty that carry complex narratives of displacement, bureaucratic control, and labor, inviting viewers to confront the layers of human experience that underlie seemingly ordinary surfaces. His process emphasizes both conceptual rigor and material sensitivity. Through careful manipulation, layering, and reconstruction, Karmali uncovers the tension between form and meaning, permanence and fragility. The resulting works oscillate between the intimate and the monumental, combining aesthetic allure with social critique. By engaging with materials that carry historical and cultural weight, Karmali’s practice foregrounds questions of power, memory, and identity, creating spaces where viewers can reflect on personal and collective histories. His work continually examines how individual and systemic narratives intersect, offering a nuanced meditation on contemporary life shaped by migration, labor, and the enduring traces of colonial influence. ...
