Ruby, wallpaper for Naqsh Café created in 2019, is a controversial large size painting of symmetrical and asymmetrical shapes that has random camouflaged messages. The messages in the painting may show to the world how women are treated and diminished in some communities. The artist successfully incorporates hidden phrases showing feminist empowerment, along with a combination of patterns, unity and variety, and completing the painting with an analogous and complementary harmony.

Ruby’s wallpaper is an abstract painting; as the world “abstract” indicates, this painting is an expression of how women of a patriarchal society can feel or live. The wallpaper is entirely covered with rectangles of different sizes and colors. In the colors, the artist used a complete palette of bright colors with an analogous and complementary pattern. At first glance, it is noted that the artist followed an order to complete the painting. After making the shapes, she went on to write the subliminal messages with Latin words and Urdu letters. To hide the phrases, she filled the spaces around letters with henna designs.

A consistent theme of shapes and henna are creating a pattern in Ruby’s painting. The pattern is repetitive and continuous around the work. The shapes are joined with each other making contrast between the vibrant colors of the painting. The symmetry of the shapes and their colors make this painting a work of art that is strong and not afraid to express itself. The unity of the painting shows power as well as the message that its author wants to express “female empowerment.”

Unity and variety are generated by the well-balancing of colors and forms. In Ruby’s composition, unity is provided by the repetition of designs among the rectangles, while the variety is added by fluctuating the sizes and colors of the shapes, and by overlapping the phrases. The unification of these two principles in the composition gives the sense of strength, power and consolidation. As the work shows, unity and variety are two essential components for a society with empowered women.

Feelings of power and the sense of not being afraid of expressing her thinking about a society full of inequality are also transmitted in the painting using a palette full of colors. The colors of the painting are a combination of analogous and complementary colors. These two techniques of color harmony make a unification of self-confidence of what the artist is transmitting to the viewer. This is not the exception in Ruby’s painting. The energetic combination of colors catches the attention of the spectator, leading to the achievement of her goal which is the delivery of a message promoting women empowerment.

Ruby’s wallpaper demonstrates her skill of transmitting her feelings and thinking in a piece that can inspire others to do the same. The use of unity and variation patterns in the entire painting shows the unification of women that fight for equality and improvement of their condition. The colors are the perfect complement in the painting, because the colors are the part that has a magnetic effect on the viewer, who is drawn to it. The shapes and all the components of the painting make a piece that will continue transmitting a message for generations to come, about the equality for which women fight day after day in communities where their voice does not count or is ignored.