Fatima Ahmed has a way of holding your gaze with just a subtle whisper. She meets your eye with the merest hint of a suggestion and you are riveted to her work – ready to move along with her on a journey that promises to be both reflective and enriching. At first you are thrown by the sheer lack of visual noise. Where is that ubiquitous clamour of meaning, that clash of colour or that all too familiar artistic din?

The silence in her work implodes within you. Fatima's solitary figures, ensconced within the canvas's depths are swathed in layers of colour and light. These figures glow with an inner radiance but reserve their words with a disquieting sparseness.If the solitary figures are lone travelers, striding their dreams alone in the world, she is one of them too. The principles of acceptance, of harmony and peace with the universe have been part of her own life as an Oshoiste for whom the Buddhist principle of self acceptance has been singularly important. In her own life, she moved through episodes with the dispassion of a sanyasi.

She recalls her time in London in the 70's those heady days of artistic ferment and she laughs her own regret at leaving London. There were days when she was beset with financial crisis. There were times of uncertainty, when a choice between sanyas and art forked her path. She chose sanyas first and for the next decades concentrated on the spiritual growth until she resumed painting. She's always belived in staying true in her inner voice.

- Manju P Pillai, Dec 2007