Rania Haider | Khwaab (Dreams)

Rania Haider is a Pakistani visual artist based in Hamilton, Ontario. She creates text-based works rooted in calligraphy, sourced from the language, memory, and the visual traditions of her cultural heritage. Alongside her artistic practice, Rania works in arts administration and community programming, coordinating exhibitions, supporting public programs, and helping cultural spaces feel welcoming to the people they serve. Her work remains rooted in community storytelling, and she is drawn to spaces where creativity, care, and intention come together, dedicating space for the stories that shape how we understand belonging, memory, and place.

"Liminal Words" is a series of paintings that delve into the intricacies of language and text by using letters from the Urdu script as a medium to
explore the themes of language loss and the erasure of multicultural histories. At its core, this series engages with a text-based practice, 
delving into the gradual disappearance and erosion of language in both reading and writing. These paintings highlight the inability to effectively communicate using fragmented Urdu script, which is disjointed and unable to fulfill its primary function of communication and understanding. Layers of calligraphy sweep across the canvas in gold, some forms distinct while others dissolve, slipping just beyond legibility. Here the word becomes both a presence and an echo, lingering like a memory that is both vivid and intangible.