Hafsa Murtaza, Toronto as an Islamic Garden, 2025
Ink, acrylic, fabric marker, embroidery and glass beads on canvas.
24 in x 30 in
The CN Tower and Rogers Centre are reimagined as the Taj Mahal with chhatri cupolas, and are perched on Niagara Falls just as the Taj overlooks the Yamuna River. The interplay of cultural symbols, the CN Tower, a symbol of Canadian nationalism, and the Taj Mahal, signifying imperial Mughal power, questions how cultural empires shape the land they govern. While Canada's colonial and neoliberal history has industrially paved Toronto with towering skyscrapers and commodified Niagara Falls, which is significant to Indigenous people, Mughal and other Islamic empires are notable for the water, architectural and garden innovations they brought with them that became sites for cultural intersections. The painting asks: What if the Mughals had brought the four-part garden tradition and its associated cultural solidarities to Canada as they had done in India?
