Perhaps these hybrids remind us of the curiosities evoked in folk literature,
where the inhabitants of strange lands wear their faces on their chests and use
a straw hut as a head. We might glimpse animals lurking among the humans: a
ram, a daft camel, or even a pantomime horse. Often the figures seem about to
adopt a new identity, feigning to be farmyard livestock, or some familiar bird.
Some figures are left exposed, isolated against blankness. Others proliferate
and squeeze into every last inch of the sheet, twisting acrobatically under the
pressure of releasing fresh arrangements. A sad face is rare, for these gym-
nasts and dancers seem generally happy, their purpose being to establish a frag-
ile community as an alternative to daily discomfort and loneliness.  
Rashidi doodles to a purpose, drawing close to something new and wonderful in
the creative act and comforting himself with the knowledge that he alone can
fully embrace and savour it all. In a sense, he is depicting himself, and his
sketches – little more than litter to the casual glance – are tokens of an insight
into the mechanisms of desire and poetic transcendence. The loops and curls on
the paper delineate an unreal yet reassuring territory. One drawing epitomizes
the artist’s urge to establish a personal space he can call home: an elegant pi-
geon comes to rest upon virgin paper, a tiny cottage nestling in its feathers.
g
a
al
October 2012
The Restless Line
10

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