Mohammad Ali Talpur (b.1976) was born in the Sindh region of Pakistan before moving to Lahore where he studied at the prestigious National College of Arts (NCA). Throughout his career his focus has been calligraphy, language, abstraction and minimalism. Taken at face value the lines in Talpur's work possess an optical quality, restricted to a palette of black and white, a reference to the printed page of a book. The combination of line and colour discombobulates the eye, causing the viewer to see flashes of colour and movement within the monochrome canvases.
"Language is one of the biggest inventions of humanity. Writing has been a method of documenting human ideas, information, creative expressions and secrets from private to public usage. In my work, I translate text, convert sounds into pictoral form, and free them from their original purpose of readability and communication."
Talpur's 'Optical Calligraphies' have their roots firmly in calligraphic heritage, whilst simultaneously presenting a starkly contemporary aesthetic. He has exhibited extensively in Pakistan and overseas. In 2020 his work was displayed at the Lahore Museum as part of the Lahore Biennale (LB02), curated by Sheikha Hoor Al-Qasimi.