Huma Mulji (b. 1970)

Formally and conceptually surreal, Her Suburban Dream shows a taxidermied buffalo in an unexpected situation. Imprisoned by a concrete water pipe, the buffalo has been forced to the floor, its neck stretched to an impossible length. Pakistani born Huma Muljis works explore ideas of displacement, often using strange juxtapositions to play with our sense of belief. Using a creature native to the artists country, and a concrete water pipe to represent urbanisation, Her Suburban Dream is a comment on boundaries, notably urban and rural divides, hope and despair, and ultimately life and death. Muljis practice is marked by the use of low-grade technologies and a visual idiom derived from her lived experience. As Mulji has said, 'The primary catalyst for my work continues to be the city in all its manifestations, which serve as inspiration towards conceptual as well as formal decisions in the work. Playing with the absurdities and conflicts of living in an urban society in transition, the works broadly address visual and cultural overlaps and collisions of language, image and taste' (H. Mulji, reproduced at https:// www.humamulji.com/ [accessed 5th June 2013]).