This monsoon, diverse narratives have organically gelled, though through very different routes, concerns and contexts. Poignant vignettes of loss, displacement, retrieval and transformation provide multiple layers of viewing and meaning. There is an underlying urgency in coming to terms with floods today. There is a focus on rural and remote areas of coastal Sind, as well as in urban centres such as Karachi. The curatorial intention has been to draw into the work of practitioners whose response to water patterns has been ongoing, moving away from commissioned art, into spaces that engage you to reflect and in which you may incidentally find yourself. These are shared narratives of memories of places and people lost, where we arrive often after a traumatic shift within our surroundings: land, homes and belongings lost or submerged, also providing a critique of polarities within lifestyles and social realities.
There is a predominant archival presence, and simultaneous opening of trajectories/arteries which the viewer can experience and navigate through. Ideas that allow you to drift into spaces of beauty and stillness amid the obvious references to inundation and torrent. Disruption is part of the process, whether it is in the depiction of a space or in the installation of the works, evoking the ongoing process of land reclamation, and water reclaiming the land. This imbalance seems integral to the curatorial reading. There has been no desire to conceal, but rather to enjoy, akin to an unedited conversation, an unfinished painting; to find comfort in the subtle nuances and shifts from one body of work to another. The spaces in between and the viewer in it become integral to the reading.
Curated by Amra Ali
Microcosm 2 has brought insight into how this generation of artists experiencing and reinterpreting their attitude, identity, environment, tastes, sexualities and political learning through their artwork. This exhibition offers a rich, intricate, multidisciplinary exploration of the work in a variety of media-ranging from drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, illustration, photography, video and few surprising mix.
‘Conversation with cold white surfaces’ was the first experience Aisha had when it came to Art Making. Starting from the blank white pages of a diary which is a symbol of keeping a day to day record of one’s pains and pleasures to the claustrophobic images filled with unreadable text spreading like a contagious virus. Starting from a very personal emotional turmoil it grew up to become a political comment such as ‘Personal is Political’.
A crucial aspect of her creative practice is working in an archival mode. The thought of exploring hidden treasures of narrative yet to be told excites her while digging for ancient documents, scripts, photographs and text. The images are static yet moving, the words say nothing but they breathe. It’s like weaving of a net or making of a cocoon with ultimate patience and sheer pleasure just as one’s develop a relationship or a spiritual contact. The lucidity in the free flowing forms is organic reminding one of body secretions as well. The works executed in liquid medium, reflects the obsessiveness with the process, a force to explode, a desire to break free from something tightly knotted. The heartbreaking ache for one’s own existence, the imbalance and crudeness of life constitute a mellow palette and mood.
These series of portraits consist of older men in their relative field of expertise which is their playground. I have photographed them intentionally on the 6 x 6 square format on film. There is a common discipline in this body of work i.e. one roll of film per personality. Amounting to 12 negatives per subject on an average. The light source is available light and most of the portraits are made with the camera aperture fully open for a shallow depth of field. This technique is very contrary to the rules of “Portrait Photography”, in which mostly pin sharp faces are emphasized as a rule. My project deals with frailty of the moment and circumstance as well. I couldn’t make contact sheets of all my subjects as in most cases negatives were studied and selected. The time and resource limit has forced me to be more on my toes in seeing the light, face and the transient company of the sitter.
The Fleet’ considers the possibility of the sea as a site through which the border is observed and imagined. This too becomes a space, despite its fluidity, that is marked, divided and policed. Floating upon the seas are various vessels, symbolized in this work through the body as well as the boat, that are used to examine tensions around freedom and captivity as life traverses through the marine.
Specifically, for the artist, the Arabian Sea littoral exists as a site of fluid exchange and possibility; especially symbolised by the fishermen who navigate this sea and depend on it as a source of their livelihood, but at the same time exist as victims of this system. Thus, through this body of work, the viewer may be able to better understand the politics of the sea and its relationship to land and nation.
Rooms are never finished', a title borrowed from Agha Shahid Ali, is a body of work that alludes to the shifting architectures of aspiration in a part of Karachi where the artist grew up. The neighbourhood is called Darakhshan Township, a development of Defence Housing Authority, and it consists of some 200 residential homes facing one edge of the Arabian sea (Seaview).
This work mulls over the shrinking of Seaview, a vibrant and free public beach enjoyed by masses escaping the weight of the city, and its relationship to the aspirations of a robust middle class living in Darakhshan across from it; upgrading, renovating and expanding their homes over the last 30 years. As the artist laments the loss of free public space on Seaview on the one hand, she looks at the land on which her own house stands on the other. It is reclaimed from the sea and eager to capture more space like the houses of her neighbours all around, begging an acknowledgement of her own complicity in the displacement of the beach and local ecologies she has loved in Karachi. Working through a series of interviews she looks at the aspirations of her neighbours and the workers on the beach to find that this complicity has surprising intersections across classes in the (often) self-destructive drive to develop the city.
Fortuitously framed by a house transformed into a gallery, this body of work hopes to peel away some skin and enter the underbellies of lives from a place of self-awareness. Like past projects this work explores fragments of longing also, but this time allows aspiration—a less seemly cousin—to peer through its clothes making the poetic rude, less self-indulgent, and local to a place that is magical even while it stumbles into unknown futures.
Dual Concurrent Exhibitions at Gandhara Art Space
This exhibition opens at Gandhara Art Space on Thursday, October 19, 2017. This is a landmark show as we will be showing two separate exhibitions featuring the works of Abdul Ali Haider, Aisha Khalid, Afshar Malik, Anneka Cheema, Anwar Saeed, Atif Khan, Bushra Obaid, Fatima Saeed, Haider Ali Akmal, Hasnain Owais, Imran Ahmad, Imran Qureshi, Jamil Baloch, Laila Rahman, Muhammad Abrar, Dr Murtaza Jafri, Naira Mushtaq, Naazish Ataullah, Nurayah Sheikh, Quddus Mirza, RM Naeem, Saad Ahmad, Saba Manzoor, Sameera Khan, Sara Zahid, Zara Asghar & Zobia Yaqoob.
Gandhara would like to thank Atif Khan and the Cowasjee Print Studio for their collaboration on this project.
Archives have played a role in art-making as a site of inquiry to be investigated and transformed. As we approach the 70th anniversary of the creation of Pakistan, it may be observed that discourse centers largely on questions of fracturing and ruptures which are important notions to be addressed and unpacked. However, what happens after the moment of the rupture or the creation? And how do peripheries operate in this context?
In this exhibition, four emerging practices are placed in dialogue with each other to address notions of who would confused and create anxieties around national narratives through their practice looking at the archive. Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s practice investigates notions of masculinity, sexuality and desire through the excavation of newspaper and print archive. Veera Rustomji explores histories of the Parsi community in Karachi whose presence is under erasure. Moonis Ahmad looks at notions of memory and how borders are imagined and understood in this context. Finally Ghulam Mohammad locates the politics of language through the practice of destruction and recreation of the national Urdu language, while not being a native speaker of it. Through these practices the viewer may reflect on how past histories and experiences, especially from margins, may allow us to understand the complex narratives of celebrating the present
Microcosm - A current survey of contemporary art. A generational challenge has already been taken up and this idea has been explored in many major international projects in a global context. Youthfulness is a highly subjective topic and in the last years of boom, various artists came to the fore representing a new generation (young means under- 40). Based on the conviction that some of the most radical gestures in the art history have been carried out by the artists in early stages of their career, this curated exhibition, investigation or survey emphasizes the stars of tomorrow’s art scene who bring a myriad of visual culture influences in their art practice. There are 13 artists carefully chosen who are novel in this arena, previously hadn’t had any major exhibits and certainly their captivating works are yet to be seen with a youthful flair, and most importantly are born in 80’s or after. Some of them have yet to blow out thirty candles on a birthday cake.
Microcosm has brought insight into how this generation of artists experiencing and reinterpreting their attitude, identity, environment, tastes, sexualities and political learning through their artwork. This exhibition offers a rich, intricate, multidisciplinary exploration of the work in a variety of media-ranging from drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, illustration, photography, video and few surprising mix.
Violence leaves traces. Be it habitually remembered or deliberately evoked, it has a deep impact on individual awareness as well as collective identities. The memory of violence is not only embedded in peoples' bodies and minds but also adorned onto space in all kinds of settings especially in the natural environment.Places and landscapes do not simply act as memory containers but rather profoundly shape, and are also shaped by, the ways in which violence is performed, experienced and remembered. This tense relationship is apparent in designed memorials — whether erected at sites where the violence and suffering took place, such as a war memorial, or constructed to forget violence and wish it away. Violence, thus, becomes a part of the landscape – the more heinous the violence the more beautiful its memorial.
From emerging talents to the Modern masters of both Asia and the West, Art Basel in Hong Kong traces twelve decades of art history across its six sectors: Galleries, Insights, Discoveries, Encounters, Magazines and Film. On display will be the highest quality of paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, phototgraphs, video and editioned works from the 2oth and 21st centuries, by more than 3,000 artists from Asia and around the globe. The show will also offer extensive opportunities for intellectual discovery, through discussions and presentations, creating a platform of cross-cultural exchanges for artists, gallerists, collectors and visitors. Gandhara-Art Space is showcasing the works of: Khadim Ali, Faiza Butt, Fazal Rizvi, Risham Syed and Adeel uz Zafar.
A continuing investigation into the changing face of the city through measures of policing, securitization and urban regulation manifested in the barricades and barriers that have come to form a kind of 'soft architecture'™ of Karachi, this ongoing body of work presents itself as a witty series of proposals that attempt to formulate an integrated architecture of the city through new possible configurations of urban dwellings and structural formations.
WHAT IS SEEN AND NOT SEEN WITH OR WITHOUT SEEING is a subjective survey of drawing as a reflective process which extends beyond sensory perception. It reviews the trajectory of an idea as it transforms from 'being' into 'becoming' (visual/physical manifestation of the idea), the transformation of the intangible into tangible, irrespective of the tools utilized to aid this process. This exhibition marks the beginning of a long term project tracing the trajectory of drawing practices in the contemporary art of Pakistan. It is specific in its selection of artists who have all been trained at the same institution, following a train of thought which has matured and branched out in distinct and diverse practices. It documents the inspirations and influences which have evolved in a language of its own over the last three and a half decades. Conceived and curated by Hajra Haider Karrar the exhibition features some of the most prominent names in the contemporary art of Pakistan, Zahoor Ul Akhlaq, Anwar Saeed, Quddus Mirza, Adeel Uz Zafar, Mohammad Ali Talpur, Ayaz Jokhio, Fahd Burki, Ali Kazim, Rehana Mangi, Noor Ali Chagani, Sara Khan and Hammad Gillani.
Ayesha Zulfiqar's new body of works represents her experiences of traversing between known and unknown paths where her memory is embodied in material and spatial conditions. The desire to transform the ephemeral and temporal into containable physical embodiments stems from an urge to revive lived moments in order to abate this longing. It is perhaps in resistance to accepting a foreign condition, the unease with the unknown where one tends to introspect and delve within in search of an intimate and known realm. The ritual of drawing her room repetitively from different viewpoints, documenting each detail and alteration over the years she lived there becomes an exercise in permanence establishing and giving life to the familiar An archive of reassurance - a physical manifestation of her primary construct. Now inhabiting these confines her focus extends beyond the material objects to the empty, invisible and connecting space in the middle, the spaces of circulation which capture her attention and are deemed to hold the same value as the material objects.
The act of cartography, while seemingly utilitarian and benign, has been a powerful way of documenting and marking territory as a means of exploration, control and conquest. Artists from Pakistan have explored the possibilities and limitations of this practice since Partition - the creation of which was also the result of arbitrary demarcation. This exhibition brings together disparate and diverse practices exploring how artists have been inspired by, addressed and critiqued the notion of cartography and representation through exploring its limitations and reappropriating its ability to discipline and control. In their experiments they have subverted hegemonic practices and reimagined new forms of visuality and seeing. They have grappled with and addressed complex issues of home, colony, belonging and transcendence.
Through the high walls and closed gates.. Farida Batool traverses the political urban landscape presenting contrasting realities through the dichotomy of before and after moments; the temporality of the present and the transformation of history and memory through erasure. By juxtaposing her experiences with those of others encountered along the way, she comments on the cultural and political turmoil of the present day. The selection of lenticular technique as her medium of choice allows her to create these visible shifts in her narrative which allow the work to be navigated in multiple ways.
The most amount of people standing still, screaming & laughing. The pioneer video artist of Pakistan, Bani Abidi unfolds layers of the interwoven web of complex structures inherent in her native city. Her videos and photographs are a social commentary on the politics and culture of a faulty system. The slow moving satirical and often absurd visuals, at times accompanied with text, are the artist take on persisting and prevalent behaviors portraying the failures and triumphs of living in a struggling neo liberal society.