What Comes After by Mustabshirah Malik
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Dimensions: 24 x 26 in
Year: 2026
Price: $2000.00 USD
Status: available
Becoming is a series that reflects on the different stages of human life and the experiences that shape who we are over time. Using the recurring presence of a cat and, later, a lion, the works explore themes of growth, identity, memory, love, responsibility, transformation, and mortality. The series begins with childhood, a time of innocence, curiosity, and possibility—and gradually moves through the emotional and psychological phases that follow. Each painting represents a moment of becoming: the fears we carry, the connections we form, the dreams we pursue, and the changes we undergo as we move through life. The cat serves as a symbolic stand-in for the human self, allowing these experiences to be explored in a way that is both personal and universal. As the series unfolds, the figure evolves alongside the stages of life, reflecting the ways in which experience shapes our understanding of ourselves and the world around us. The final works contemplate mortality and the traces we leave behind, questioning whether becoming truly ends with death or continues beyond what we can see. At its heart, Becoming is a reflection on the lifelong process of change. It is an invitation to pause and consider the moments, relationships, and experiences that quietly shape us into who we become.
Why collect this work?
A chain of paw prints turns the landscape into a temporal sequence, connecting the blue cat in the foreground with a distant lion that may represent destination, successor, or future self.
- Malik states that cats and lions stand for stages of human life in her Becoming series. Their separation here makes change appear uncertain rather than seamless.
- The cat pauses above a large print as smaller tracks lead toward the water and lion. A watch face lies off the path, reinforcing time while complicating any straightforward account of progress.
- The documented oil-on-canvas medium supports gradual tonal transitions between the defined foreground, reflective water, and softened mountains. In the photograph, these shifts make distance carry the allegory.
- Encountering this painting within the series allows comparison between physical growth and symbolic substitution. Its changing scale and interrupted trail pose a specific question: does becoming preserve the earlier self, or leave it behind?
About the Artist
Mustabshirah Malik
Mustabshirah Malik is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Karachi, PK.
Nationality: Pakistani
Becoming is a series that reflects on the different stages of human life and the experiences that shape who we are over time.
