Somewhere in Pakistan by Somewhere in Pakistan

WE KNOW WHERE THE ART IS APRIL 2019

DITOR’S LETTER IN WELCOMING YOU TO Somewhere in Pakistan, I want to say something about what the magazine stands for and from where it emerged, as an idea. The first issue merits a clear introduction concerning something of our vision for the future. Somewhere in Pakistan is a visual arts publication from Pakistan but it represents rather more than just that. It is founded on the belief that no artist should have to work in what amounts to a critical vacuum, and that the magazine should serve as a conduit for the passing on of information about the wealth of talent hailing from even the most remote and wider regions of Pakistan. In terms of the international perspective, there is some significant merit in thinking about what we do and the commonality that may exist between us all, of course. Some artists have already offered us some insight into this way of thinking (through their work) and serve as exemplars of what I am alluding to here. Somewhere in Pakistan was conceived as a magazine that would better represent the art of what many think of as ‘the margins’, therefore, while also being about providing a platform for the work of artists from margins where artists can also befound working remotely, or without the widespread recognition they certainly deserve.

If Somewhere in Pakistan is about anything, it is about giving due recognition to artists and makers who are truly deserving of it, yet simply do not have their work seen beyond what is sometimes a close-knit community. While there’s nothing wrong in that, and some hugely valuable contributions emerge from such communities precisely for those communities, every artist should enjoy recognition where it is due, and if this publication can cast light on such endeavours, then it will be doing some good in my view. With this in mind, Somewhere in Pakistan is thus a magazine showing how the artist must contact the reality of his or her time (through works of art), wresting from it something timeless and universal. It is also about seizing the moment and, where appropriate, bringing forward the arts of Pakistan, subjecting them to appraisal of a kind that is befitting the quality of work being produced, and measuring the achievements of artists.

OMER WASAY I EDITOR

‘No fear’ (2013) by Saud Baloch On the cover

CONTRIBUTORS Nwa Abbas Rizvi Arwa Ansar Sahar Zafar Ayeza Raza Mudasir Altaf ‘Abundance’ by Mahwish Shaukat On page 5

Inside 04

Mahwish Shaukat

Yaseen Khan

Pushing the limits

Chammak paati on canvas

Ibrahim Gailani

Asad J. Malik

Interview - Art & Transformation

Mixed Reality Artist

Nwa Abbas Rizvi

Safwan & Marium Street Art

Opinion - With Great Power Comes Great Responsibilty

Smeha Jahangir

Haider Ali

Photographer in focus

Truck Artist

Mahnoor Malik

Rahada Tajwer

Street photographer

Digital Art

Rabia Farooqui

Amber Arifeen

Subjective Objectivity

Relationship between feminie form & space

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Review by Nwa Abbas

Eesha Suhail

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Mission Domesticationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Rabia Farooqui

Self in Personal Space

Saud Baloch Dissecting Attachements

Muneeb Ali Photo by: Feng Wei

Masters fo finest stroke

Affan Baghpati

Group of classical painters

Mahmood Hayat Michaelangelo of Lahore

Ali Hammad Inspired from the great masters

Power of words

Mixed Reality Artist

Art, by virtue of that free essence I have tried to define, unites whereas tyranny separates. It is not surprising, therefore, that art should be the enemy marked out by every form of oppression. It is not surprising that artists and intellectuals should have been the first victims of modern tyrannies. Tyrants know there is in the work of art an emancipatory force, which is mysterious only to those who do not revere it. - Albert Camus

Zara Khan Abstract Expressionism

Zainab Aziz Chinese Whisper

MAHWISH SHAUKAT Pushing the limits

orn and residing in Lahore, Mahwish Shaukat is a fine artist who also teaches Art and Design to O’ and A’ Level students in Lahore, Pakistan. She received her degree in Bachelors of Fine Arts from Beaconhouse National University Lahore in 2007. After her graduation she participated in a few group shows exhibiting drawings, paintings and digital prints. She worked as a graphic designer for more than four years and has been involved in other activities such as illustrating children’s books. Recently, she has returned to drawing and painting full time. ‘Silence’ by Mahwish Shaukat

For Mahwish, making a work of art is an intuitive act that comes naturally to her as a responsive exercise for the idle hands and mind. “When making the work I observe, imitate, create and recreate,” she says. She believes her work to be realistic and detailed, drawing inspiration from all that is around her and to create surrealistic compositions by bending reality to her will. These compositions are depictions of her subconscious thoughts so naturally they are very personal. Mahwish says she loves the freedom she has as an artist and the fact that the only limit there is, is the visuals created in her imagination and she really enjoys seeing how far she can push it. She believes that this exploration is an ongoing process and that she only just scratched the surface. She loves experimenting with a variety of media and their potential. Her most recent drawings are a combination of organic forms and geometry, and they express a journey towards self-discovery, making her way through the conflicts and/or harmony of conformity and freedom. Her art has become a process through which she strives to develop a betterunderstanding of herself and of the world around her. And after all, isn’t that what art is all about? ‘Adapt’ by Mahwish Shaukat 04

ART & TRANSFORMATION Interview with Ibrahim Gailani Q.Tell us a little about yourself. IG: I started painting at the age of six. Like most Pakistani parents, mine had different expectations from me as well so I didn’t actively pursue it. I grew up in the U.A.E and came back to Pakistan for high school. I started doing a degree in business, but my heart wasn’t into it. My heart was in studying art but because I wasn’t getting any kind of encouragement, I gave up on painting altogether and started my career in banking and finance by working for Citi Bank in Karachi for two years. Then I moved to Dubai where I worked for another bank for five years as a call-centre specialist. After this I came back to Pakistan and started working as Director of Customer Care at Telenor in Lahore. It was during this time that the happiness I felt about working in the corporate world became most pronounced in me. I suppose it had something to do with how rich in art and history Lahore is. This was a time of deep reflection of me. I asked myself if I was happy with the kind of work I was doing and whether it was truly me. I started painting again and consequently lost my job at Telenor. Then I travelled a bit; I went to Barcelona and other cities in Europe and got the clarity I was seeking: that art is the career I want to pursue. Then I settled in Oman and started focusing on painting. My work centred around sexual liberation. I went to a gallery and the owner told me that nobody would ever buy my art. I didn’t lose hope and decided to do something about this myself, so I turned my house into a gallery. I had a completed portfolio, I printed brochures, threw out all the furniture, displayed my work and invited people to my house. Some of the invites included journalists too which helped in spreading the word around. Then I started an art retreat called Gailani Art Retreat which was more an art spa and which gained a lot of popularity in Oman. My work was eventually being showcased in museums and top galleries. Nobody was accepting my art in the beginning till I took matters in my own hands. In just a few months, I even showcased my work in Los Angeles.

Ibrahim Gailani

Q: Did you always want to paint even while working at a corporate job ?

Q:How is your work received back in Pakistan?

Q: Who would you say your work has been inspired by?

IG: I have a curator friend in Pakistan.

IG: I came from dark backgrounds.

IG: I started painting at the age of six, it is something I always wanted to do. In fact, a corporate job was not something I wanted to do. Corporate jobs are horrible, whoever says all the CEOs in corporate jobs are not horrible people are lying.

I have been to the Lahore Biennale. People in Pakistan have been very receptive. I don’t know how it is received. But if someone sees my work and relates to it or appreciates it, I feel connected to.

Q: What held you back from becoming an artist at the start?

Q: What would you say your work depicts?

IG: My parents, then the society, my

IG: The last curator I came across in New York said something about my work which really struck me. She said my work is where street art and canvas collide. It’s very street art, like a graffiti wall has come alive on canvas. It is pop art. I am inspired by bright colours of street art and pop art. Many of my works depict text, communicating messages like street art.

You have to pull yourself together, you carry that struggle and there is something beautiful about struggles of human life and how we carry on. I am currently painting a piece that will be displayed in ‘Miami Art Basel’ at red dot festival. It is about a Mexican immigrant U.S marine veteran who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder and drug addiction, now he has pulled his life together and turned it around. It is really about transformation.

friends and everybody used to discourage me. People filled me with self-doubt also I did not have funds to buy my own art supplies. A good support system is so important, and I didn’t have that. Still, I found someone who did help me.

Q. How did you reconcile such diverse professions? IG: If you’re a creative person, you

look for creativity in every field. For me, I used to find creativity working in the management, or even when working for the call-centre I used to find what is unique and look at things from a different point of view. I would use different styles of management and try to see how they were similar rather than how different these fields were. Huma Gailani & Ibrahim Gailani

Q:Do you feel you are excluded from mainstream artist community? IG: I don’t think I am a part of

mainstream artist community, nor have I ever intended to be. Why follow the path? You have to be different, you have to be unique and only unique perspectives are interesting, that is why I am successful. I don’t look at anybody else and I judge my work then I judge their work. I am a member of Oman’s Society of Art. I do go to the group exhibitions; my work is displayed with other artists, but I don’t consider myself a part of the artists’ group. I consider myself as an artist in global stage to show my art to the rest of the world, not part of any community. I consider myself as an artist here on the global stage to show my art to the rest of the world. I consider myself as an artist without any labels.

IG: I don’t think I ever took criticism

negatively. Once when I exhibited my work in my own house a woman commented that she did not see any authenticity in a painting of mine, which made me stop and think. I thought about what she meant and what I was failing to capture and whether I agreed with it. Whatever people say about my work, unless they have something constructive to say, I don’t listen.

A Artwork by: Ibrahim Gailani

Q: Which criticism has struck you the most?

Q. Tell us about your position as an advocator of art in Oman. IG: I work for a bank in Oman. I am

the head of the Branch Transformation. I design the layouts of new branches, it is sort of creative. I think I got this job after I established myself as an artist. I redesign branches of Banks.

Q: What are the various words through which your art has been described? IG: There is one phrase they say a lot about me, ‘I capture stories of transformation.’

WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT RESPONSIBILITY

A NWA ABBAS RIZVI

rt is not the expression of one artist, one person’s sensitivity and creativity. It is not something that is categorized as what is only to be perceived, opposed to that which is categorized as what is only to perceive. Art is the expression of all of humankind, it is the concrete portrayal of what already exists as the collective unconscious, and an artist, then, is one who brings this expression out into the unraveling light of the conscious mind. Why is it that every time one walks into a space for the sole purpose of viewing and appreciating the display of somebody else’s mind that one also finds it to resonate with something deep inside oneself? It is because the artist has unburied something that had been dug deep into ignorance by social and political constructions or never even realized because of a lack of the capacity to do so. This capacity is not constrained by inheritance or abstractions like ‘god-gifted talent’, it is more of a tendency, a kind of wiring that can be acquired and enhanced through acute observation. Going ahead with the fact that not all experiences are the same and no one joy or suffering can be shared by simply everyone in the same manner, a sense of familiarity can be tapped into with a medium in between the two ridges; the one of ignorance and the one of specific cause. An artist can bring to exposure the hopelessness in brutal injustice, the desperation in starvation, the humiliation in defeat, the inhumane glee in violence, the alienation in isolation with just an image that, necessarily, only clicks (for the lack of a better word) in all its potent honesty. An artist can come forth as the representative of the oppressed, the voice of the voiceless.An artist can come forth as the correctional unit assigned to glaring inequality. An artist can even come forth as only a witness because the point remains that it is only the artist who holds the brush, who can give form to what was formless, who can give color to what was black and white, who can whip abstraction into something understandable and present it in a manner to one that would not be frightening in its clear reflectiveness. At a point, then, it is not even a question of what an artist can or cannot do; it is more a matter of what an artist must do, especially in this day and age. There is a social responsibility, or even just a responsibility, that lies heavily on the shoulders of artists to lay bare the world in front of a public that relies on their integrity and capacity for representation to do so. It may be a heavy burden, but it is what it is.

Illustration by : Arwa Ansar

SMEHA JAHANGIR Photographer from Faisalabad in Focus

Photo Courtesy: Smeha Jahangir

MAHNOOR MALIK Mahnoor is a street photographer & photojournalist. Being a first generation Pakistani-American her work draws on similarities across cultures that people often fail to notice. She's inspired by cities and likes to associate them with certain tones, textures and emotions. This photo is part of her series of photographs which she called, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;No Visitors.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; A comment on the tourism industry in Pakistan.

RABIA FAROOQUI Subjecctive Objectivity

orn in 1992, Rabia Farooqui is currently a Karachi based visual artist. She has received her BFA from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, (IVS) Karachi in 2015. Rabia majored in the Miniature Painting and has taken part in numerous exhibitions. In April 2018 she participated in artist Residency by the name of Zaratan in Lisbon Portugal where she exhibited her work by the end of the residency. Rabia has exhibited in galleries of Lahore and Karachi. Her recent group show was exhibited at Sanat gallery, opened on 26th March 2019. Her work aims to bring about the use of some gestures and objects in everyday situations to represent conflicting thoughts and viewpoints. Object recognition plays a significant role in translating my composition. Visual representation of an object instantly guides you to your generic knowledge of that particular object. However she wants to highlight what we fail to understand; only by assigning a label can we ground the object in our own experience. Each object, though it has one definition, will evoke different response from different people. Similarly as humans, our body language paired with the use of gestures tends to give away more information than is required. These gestures have the potential to provide a link between action and thought because gesture not only represents information but also gives the onlooker an the insight into what is truly felt on a personal level. She strives to create scenarios where the very obvious presence of a conflict exists; a mere contradiction of two opposing thoughts which are influenced by preconceived standards and views set by society. We could think one thing however act another.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Rhythm is a dancerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; by Rabia Farooqui

Artwork by Rabia Farooqui 12

Mission Domestication’ by Rabia Farooqui

REVIEW NWA ABBAS RIZVI ‘It is only at the first encounter that a face makes its full impression on us.’ -ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER And what are we left with if there is none to behold? A face is the barcode, the very serial number to a human being, looking at which one can decipher and project a multitude of perceptions even before getting a chance to get closer. Yet, that is also entirely just what it is. It outruns the totality of its usefulness the moment judgment has been construed and one is left, high and dry, desperately searching for other clues into the other being.

There sits a man, propped up in a chair against a patterned background that carefully guards the secrets of his self with a standardized, uniform pattern; his face, whitened. But the manner of his legs, the slouch of his spine and the positioning of his feet, comfortably rubbing up against one another, are more than enough evidence of him. The fall of his clothes only adds to his demeanor; somebody is holding, or better yet; a pair of bodiless hands attached to arms are holding (perhaps even massaging or clinging to) his shoulders. There is a connection; there is proof of human contact, of a relationship. There is enough to surmise and enough to go on with; a crowd of people could even stand and argue the point of exchange between the two bodies: that is the immense quality of these faceless motions and grounding.

There is a rose; there is someone on his or her knees, albeit there is no begging. The placing of the arm,the countenance of the arm is one of offering, one of strength and grounding. Even without the face, or maybe because of a lack of a face, the pieces of bodies moving autonomously as though beings in themselves scream volumes. Yet, without a face, all that is left is human expression that, yes, it is essential for personal recognition, but it is just too raw! The body can be anybody, it can be the viewer. One can see the other for what the other is, but one can also pick the similarities and find the kinks portrayed in one’s own self because withouta face, they tend to flow over and infectiously spread. Therein lays the profound beauty, and perhaps terrifying honesty, of this collective work. In what can be seen as sparsely conjoined, lies a dialogue that can surely expand and stimulate the mind not only in terms of observing art but also human interaction and construction. 13

SAUD BALOCH Dissecting attachements

aud was born in Nushki, Pakistan in mid 80s, and studied Fine Arts at Balochistan University. In 2008, moved to Lahore to study at the National College of Arts, majoring in Sculpture. he graduated with Distinction (2013). His BA Thesis, Sustained, investigated the impact of physical and metaphorical burdens on the human form. Later sculptures and drawings have continued to enquire into this theme, exploring the effects of historic and geographical inheritances, and of contemporary political developments, through the manipulation of new materials and techniques. After graduating, Saud taught Sculpture at NCA, Lahore; participated in a Residency at Sanat Gallery, Karachi; completed several large-scale commissions; and exhibited extensively in Pakistan. In 2016, he moved to the UK, where he has participated in Arts Council funded projects and exhibited as a solo artist. I continue to exhibit in Pakistan, most recently at the Lahore Biennale. Saud says, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The underlying preoccupation in my practice has been with the physical and psychological effect of the current social and political situation in Pakistan. We are tied to the spaces we call home, and to the people who belong to us; so much depends on the fortunes of the things we love. If suddenly these relationships are broken off, if our connection with a person or place upon whom we depend is severed, our lives will be devastated irreversibly. For a long time I have watched such separations, deprivations and displacements occurring, and as an artist I feel forced to consider them and the strain they place on ordinary people. The work I produce responds to them and, although the origins of my ideas can be found in my surroundings, I see the humanitarian crises with which I am concerned recurring in countries throughout the world. The materials I use as a means to explore these preoccupations matter greatly, and my interest in exploiting their properties is a thread that connects both the sculptures and the drawings.The shapes made by draped and hanging jute bags and suspended cloths were also in my mind when making the drawings, but on this occasion such materials appear in deteriorated, tattered and moth-eaten states. What you see in my drawings and sculptures, what I am trying to communicate, and what is reflected, is peoplesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; desire to realise their human rights: to live without fear, have a good life, and to benefit from what belongs to them. The discomfort of those who are discriminated against and deprived of such rights, and the pains they endure as they struggle to sustain unbearable burdens, endure and survive, is also ever present.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

Title: Dreamer (2016) Size: 14 inches Medium: jesmonite, stone and putty Artist: Saud Baloch

Title: Badeshah (2016) Size: Lifesize Medium: brass and fibreglass

Title: Tamasha (2016) Size: Lifesize Medium: fiberglass and woodh

MASTERS of FINEST STROKE LAHORE Mahmood Hayat, Ali Hammad & Ali Saad paint while keeping the philosophies of old masters in their work. The finest stroke of brush is apparent in their paintings. Their work reminds us of Renaissance painters. Like the Renaissance painters, they work in a mythological landscape and develop exemplary images of love, death, birth, solitude, joy and nostalgia. On 1st March 2019, their paintings were selected for an international exhibitions, ‘Kitsch.’ Artists from 20 countries participated in the same exhibition. These painters understand rationalism, humanism and beauty in their work. Their paintings give the viewer the actual freedom to think. Beauty skill and passion is very prominent in their artwoks. This requires talent, skill and the ability to tell a story with a beautiful passages of light to convey emotion that makes their work passion’s form of expression. Seeing paintings, realises that we can again be humans. ‘Othello’ by Ali Saad

Animal form - oils by Mahmood Hayat

‘The Silver Fish’ by Ali Saad

ALI SAAD

‘Mare with the Carpet piece’ by Ali Saad

orn in 1989, in a small valley of to his town for the selection of suitable candidates for admissions Baluchistan, called Quetta. when he got selected with brilliant Since his childhood he has been position overall. Later he graduated brought up in an environment where he had easy access to books from the said art college with an honour. The accolade that he won of Literature and Art. Ali told that by odd Luck, he went to a Business throughout the following years through the art exhibitions done University and studied economics, along with his elder brother, Ali while still keeping a keen interest in Hammad in tandem. He also exhibited Art. Again by a strange quirk of luck in National and international group the selection team from the shows, with his recent particiapation renowned NCA. college Lahore went in Venice Biennale.

. 16

His subject matter from exhibition to exhibition may vary, but the technique and principles he follows are of the Masters of the Baroque period like Rembrandt and Rubens. Things which are considered commonplace or dull to the public, seem to carry special significance to him. On his part, with profound and intelligent play of light and shade, simple yet beautiful compositions worked with bold but sensitive brush strokes always rendered great results.

MAHMOOD HAYAT W

ith a degree in Product Design from National College of Arts 2007, Lahore based artist Mahmood Hayat's practice focuses on the conceptualization of beauty as his main subject matter. The artist is versatile in combining and painting with mixed medium or sometimes traditional oil paints. His approach and studies are inspired by the old and contemporary masters work through which he depicts his own unique expression on canvas. Mahmood Hayat has had local exhibitions since 2013 and some international ones as well. In 2014 one of his works titled Espoir de Muse was auctioned in Poland's reputable auction house, namely Sopocki Dom Aukcyjny. His work have also made it to international group shows like Imago Mundi, Fine Art Gallery Dubai, and his work being nomination in the prestigious IX gallery, World Wide Kitsch presenting the world’s finest painters of the world.

My love towards art started at an early age when I was introduced to traditional techniques of painting and finishing classical French interior products. Later on, I discovered my passion to learn about the techniques and how beautifully the old masters used to paint and draw figures. This path led me towards practicing the art of portrait, studying the old masters and from there generating my own unique original expression. My artworks are influenced by the personal things which happen in my life and i am a silent person. The only way I can express my inner feelings is through painting them on the canvas or watercolors on paper, be that animal or human form. Since I love painting anatomy I always want to paint it beautifully. Before I plan to lay it down on my canvas, I make sure that I have drawn my subject on a small piece of paper to understand and clear my concepts.

Photo Courtesy: Studio Mahmood Hayat

This exercise makes me correct my proportions in understanding how to approach my subject on a large sized canvas or paper. The references that I use for my artworks are sometimes my own documented images. Sometimes I use anatomical images from books or the internet searches and fuse them in my own composition since finding a nude model in Pakistan is near to impossible due to religious factors and threats. I also believe that while I am working with a composition, at the same time I am drawing with knowledge from my past experiences and imagining how light falls to illuminate that subject. My intentions are not to simply paint a picture, but rather to paint a feeling. Whenever I am painting anything I dream and imagine a story which goes inside my mind. I render my subjects with the help of subtle shifts in light, and apply harmonious warm colors to compliment my composition. -Mahmood Hayat

‘Bird form’ - Charcoal by Mahmood Hayat

‘Figurative’ - Watercolours by Mahmood Hayat

‘The Carpet Seller’ by Ali Hammad

ALI HAMMAD

li Hammad the second son of his parents, was born in Quetta, Pakistan. Reared coincidently in a happy favourable circumstance where his father (an English Professor) filled in with valuable and aspiring knowledge on art and literature. With the passage of time Ali’s appetite for drawing and painting whetted further. He ultimately was able to win a scholarship for the renowned National College of Arts, Lahore graduated with honours after 4 years. .

‘The Empress’ by Ali Hammad

Ali from his childhood developed a penchant towards subjects like sculpture, drawing, art, history design etc. A place where modern art was taught and practiced, Ali Hammad carried great interest for realism which went diametrically opposed to the existing vogue in drawing and painting. It was a challenging journey, he recalls, where he felt himself an anomaly. He graduated in 2006, started his real journey in Art. He says, ‘My present status as a painter entails an arduous involvement with my work well over the years. I reached to the conclusion

that only hard work, and scouring the libraries on the art of painting, it certainly requires a very keen observation of life and nature. It also required him to use the eye of the lynx to observe all the artwork done by the great masters, specially observing how they effected nuances in their works. The whole journey for me has been like the sailing in a paddle boat up the creek. The journey never ends for me as they say, Ars longa life brevis est-art is long life is short. One life is not enough to express the unending facets or possibilities this cosmos offers.’ 17

YASEEN KHAN RELATIONSHIP WITH THE MEDIUM

aseen Khan was born in Peshawer. Later moved to Hyderabad, Sindh. Yaseen told that he had started working at a very early age to make a living and financially support his family. He worked as a mechanic at a workshop where truck engines were repaired. Next to the workshop where he used to work, there was a truck decorative garage, he used to paint trucks there on alternative days. That was the time when Yaseen got familiar with the reflective material (Chamak patti) commonly used to make road signages or decorating trucks. Fondness of the medium was natural for him. In early 2019, during his BFA thesis exhibition at NCA he displayed detailed work with chamak patti, both the pictures on this page are from Yaseen’s thesis show. He has recently participated in a group show, ‘Electric Mix’ opened on 9th April 2019 at Sanat gallery in Karachi. Image Courtesy: Yaseen Khan

Photo Courtesy: Studio Mahmood Hayat

Photo Courtesy: Studio Mahmood Hayat Image Courtesy: Yaseen Khan

ASAD J. MALIK MIXED REALITY ARTIST

sad was born a 5 minutes drive away from the exact spot on which Osama bin Ladin was killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He started working with technology as a teenager, designing projects that gave young people a political voice. Asad J. Malik tells stories using holograms. He is a Pakistani immersive artist an working exclusively with Augmented Reality as a medium for nonfiction storytelling. His work revolves around a concept he calls “cultural augmentation” — a displacement of holograms that allows viewers to access what their environment would regard as contentious, controversial opinions. Asad’s recent project Terminal 3, which explores the contemporary Muslim identity using AR, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. Image Courtesy: Asad J. Malik

‘Terminal 3’ earned rave reviews in publications like the New York Times, Washington Post, Tech Crunch and Wired Magazine. Fast Company described it as the “most intense AR experience” they’d ever had. Asad’s work attempts to change the power structures existing in our reality using augmentation. He has been working with Mixed Reality as a medium of expression. He’s been behind various Mixed Reality projects like the viral Harry Potter Holo lens experience and more recently the Holograms from Syria project. 1RIC’s work has received international coverage and he’s on Pakistan’s 25 Under 25 list for tech and entrepreneurship. He’s an advocate for contextually aware storytelling and is currently enrolled at Bennington College for a personalized Mixed Reality curriculum.

Image Courtesy: Asad J. Malik

SAFWAN & MARIUM

Their aim is to bring art into the public eye by creating contemporary large-scale murals that add beauty to the lives of millions of the city’s habitants. They believe that art brings peace, harmony, and tolerance in a society that accepts and celebrates it. Pakistani society is in dire need of such empathy and understanding that only art can provide. They believe that traditional art styles are not representative of what Pakistan is today and so have created a contemporary style that encapsulates the reality of today’s situation and beautifies it to represent Pakistan in a new light. Murals on wall by Safwan & Marium

Safwan Sabzwari & Marium

afwan and Marium reclaim the city of Karachi by painting on the dirty walls. They strongly believe that the only way to bring social change in the city is through art and it’s appreciation. The duo covering several art fields – music, film, photography, fashion, and fine arts – work under the name of SIX EYES COLLECTIVE promoting the arts in anyway they can. They work from voluntarily painting the city’s dirty walls with colour to giving creative release sessions in schools, while continuously showcasing and exhibiting their artwork.

HAIDER ALI

Doodles in Karachi by Safwan & Marium

Wall painted by Safwan & Marium

Phool patti on car by Haider Ali Phool patti on car in U.S by Haider Ali

Haider Ali

aider Ali is a master at painting very large vehicles. Ali, who is from Karachi, was seven when his father first taught him the art of truck painting. At 16, he took on his first job, but was unsure of his skills. Ali spent nights practicing the paintings that he would apply to trucks during the day. It wasn't until he painted trucks at the Smithsonian that Ali realized that he was good at his job. Now, thirty-one years after his education began, Ali teaches the next generation of truck painters.The "jingle trucks" of Pakistan have caught many a global eye. When foreign visitors go to Pakistan, the first thing that strikes them is the sight of these massive trucks or buses, while

while some say the tradition goes back to the days of ancient caravans, truck art grew popular in the mid-20th century. Companies started investing in elaborate paint jobs to advertise. For others, the messages on their trucks become more personal, with paintings that reflected their hometowns. Haider Ali is also part of Phool Patti, an organization that promotes truck artists from Pakistan across the world. Photo courtesy: Haider Ali

RAHADA TAJWER DIGITAL ART

hroughout history, people have used the arts as a form of self-expression by reflecting on their lives and what they observe. Art and design are constantly changing, and growing, with history. It is constantly being influenced while influencing societal events. As an artist and communication designer, Rahada Tajwar believes that use of imagery influences societies, helping raise awareness of social issues. She has worked on a range of interesting projects including album cover for local, designed illustrations for children’s book published by Oxford University Press, comic novels, illustrated poems, and covers for the Herald. Her work is a good example of how artists and designers play a pivotal role in society by promoting human rights advocacy. Especially in the modern age, where people rely heavily on technology and media, it is important to send messages that work toward creating a society that respects human rights for themselves as well as others.

‘Illustration’ by Rahada Tajwer

‘Abid Brohi’ by Rahada Tajwer

‘Kasani’ by Rahada Tajwer

‘Tamasha’ by Rahada Tajwer

AMBER ARIFEEN

mber Arifeen is a self-taught painter based in Karachi. She picked up painting when she took AS level Art at Lahore Grammar School. She left for her undergraduate degree in Development Studies at UC Berkeley, USA but continued to paint intermittently. She resumed it fulltime after moving to Karachi in 2015 and has since displayed at My Art world in Islamabad, Alliance Françoise in Karachi and to private collectors. This series of paintings is experimental as Amber explores and discovers her artistic voice. Image Courtesy: Amber Arifeen

Image Courtesy: Amber Arifeen

Amber Arifeen’s work is informed by the ever-vexed relationship between the feminine form and space. The anxiety to contain and conceal oneself in a public setting stems from an inexplicable aversion toone’s body, as if the very contours of the female form are cause for offense. Her work explores and problematizes this dynamic. In this series, Arifeen presents urban women in domestic settings, enlarging their presence on the canvas through unambiguously masculine posturing. Each subject is shown dominating the literal space of the frame; more importantly, the women claim space by elongating, stretching, sprawling their bodies, as if to assert their presence in an otherwise vacant setting. Their body language suggests control and certainty, while the masculine attire underscores an aura of nonchalance and unspoken power. Arifeen’s work highlights the subtle strategies—what we might call “womanspreading”—that challenge the discourse on women and space. The subjects are rendered in clear and bold strokes while colors spill from the outline, creating a playful contrast between the languid poses and the chaos surrounding them. The clarity of the feminine form amidst vibrant and untamed strokes begs the question of whether there can ever be harmony between mind and body, desire and discipline, speculation and reality. Ultimately, each painting poses itself as a challenge to the viewer, a dare to imagine women as engaging in the simple act of existing unadorned and unapologetic, questioning the boundaries of their bodies, the space they inhabit, and the interplay between the two.

‘The Self in Conversation’ by Eesha Suhail

EESHA SUHAIL Self in Personal Space

orn in 1996, Eesha Suhail, completed her high school from the International School of Choueifat, focusing on literature and psychology before enrolling in the National College of Arts in 2014. She completed her Bachelors with Honors in January 2018 in contemporary miniature painting and is now working as a contemporary artist trying to create her own visually-determined aesthetic of what “Miniature painting” is to her. Her artwork, ‘The Self in Conversation’ made to the exhibition, ‘Space in Time’ at the Museum Rietberg in Zurich Switzerland during February 2019.

She says, “I paint the non-representational self in personal space as nothing more than a dead still life; An empty stage, a set perhaps, nothing more. The scenes I draw offer everything that a home should. Yet the aura becomes overpowering and suffocating. It negates itself, turning the home into a stage of sorts. I serve to transform the ordinary surroundings of my visuals into metaphors about life, relationships and the passage of time. She says, ‘My work revolves around the perversion of our home. What happens when the walls we cherish are the walls of our prison? Built not by another, but by our own deluded hands? My work reflects the discomfort and disquiet of a house turned prison. The scenes I paint echo the fear, the “disconnect”, the uncertainty that I carry within. They echo the sentiments of a trapped soul.’

My home is fallacy by Eesha Suhail

MUNEEB ALI Power of Words

uneeb Ali is calligrapher and a graphic designer. He loves to experiment in his work, use different mediums and play with them. Completed his BFA from University of the punjab, College of Art & Design, later did his masters from National college of Art Lahore. Muneed has exhibited his work in many solo and group shows in Lahore

Arcylic on canvas by Muneeb Ali

Whether within our own thoughts, spoken or written, letters have the powerful potential to transform the world we live in. They give expression to our lives, our souls, our deepest longings, and strongest emotions. They can stir every kind of emotion inside us. They can take us on fantastical adventures or transport us to another place. They can build us up, or tear us down. “Huroof” is an attempt to combine the brimming energy of these two elements. It is an endeavor to create something new and beautiful with an amalgamation of both – a fusion of the sagacious wisdom behind text and the maddening passion of Art.

Arcylic on canvas by Muneeb Ali

NEHA MAQSOOD N eha Maqsood is a Lahore-based artist who uses painting, as well as other mediums, to explore questions of process, concealment and the undefined. She graduated from Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, Pakistan, in 2017, securing honors in her Visual Arts degree. Her reason for painting is to depict the element of “Concealing and Process” through the layers of color and form in an aesthetically pleasing way. Her Paintings are just not as stand-alone artworks, but collaboration between paintings with video projections. They are more over a depiction of a process, a journey of painting.

‘Lost in Translation 4’ by Neha Maqsood 24

Lost in Translation ‘1’ by Neha Maqsood

AFFAN BAGHPATI

Title: Antlers on Pandaan Medium: brass, taxidermy Artist: Affan Baghpati Year: 2016

Title: Dog Lota Medium: copper, silicone, golden leafing Artist:Affan Baghpati Year: 2018

ffan Baghpati is Karachi based artist, graduated from Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture and finished Masters degree in Art and Design from School of Visual Art & Design, Beaconhouse National University Lahore. He has exhibited his artworks in solo and group shows in the galleries of Karachi & Lahore. His last solo exhibition was at Rohtas 2 gallery in Lahore, opened on 18th March 2019. His work involves finding old or abandoned objects that held significant importance in the past, remake them in a migical way that the object starts to interact with you, like its telling you a story.

Title: Spoon with pastry wheel (7-9) Series: Spoon with pastry wheel series Medium: Brass, Gold plated Artist: Affan Baghpati Year: 2017

Affan Baghpatiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s studio practice revolves around archiving old, and fabricating new objects. He collects discarded domestic objects and re-contextualise them for reconsideration of aesthetics and functionality by drawing connections among them, altering them, and at times making a new object. The discarded objects he picks are usually the ones which have either lost their value, presence, and function or are fading away. This selection represents old regional design culture and Baghpati finds them intriguing as most of them are no longer in production or domestic use. He is interested in locating the purpose and notional function of these objects through re-interpretation of their design, aesthetics and form. Through the rationality of these objects, he aims to bring viewers close to the intimacy of these articles. He conducted a research and collected unique novelties in the junkyards and antique stores of Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi and other cities of Pakistan.

ZARA KHAN Abstract Expressionsism

ara Khan is Karachi based artist working in mixed media. Born in Lahore, Pakistan in 1985, Khan spent her adolescent years working with watercolours and later progressed into many other mediums such as Acrylics, Inks, Enamel, Pastel and Ceramics. She continued her creative processes at Chatham University, U.S.A with a B.A in Visual Arts and Art History. Khan studied realism and the art of the Italian Renaissance. She later returned to Pakistan after completing a series of art projects in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to pursue her career in art in art. She held her first solo exhibition at the renowned Unicorn Art Gallery of Karachi, Pakistan and her public works can be found at the headquarters & other branches of United Bank Limited UBL in Karachi and with private collectors in USA, Canada, England, Qatar, UAE and Pakistan. The organic contours and figurative symbolism in her work speaks to the viewer in a highly compelling and thought provoking way. Her work at times is comical, exaggerated, a heaven of textured abstraction, a forced deconstruction, and a pure rejection of the classical. It urges us to renegotiate painting as part of a reactive or— at times- autistic medium, commenting on oppressing themes in our contemporary society, personal adventures and sorrows. By contesting the division between the realm of memory and the realm of experience, she creates intense personal moments that are masterfully created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal, luring the viewer round and round in circles. ‘Disjointed‘ by Zara Khan

‘Lady in despair’ by Zara Khan

‘Chinese Whisper’ by Zainab Aziz

ZAINAB AZIZ G

raduated in Fine Arts (painting) from Punjab University Collage of Art and Design in 2017. Choosing a major as painting was challenging but 2D realism always had me intrigued. Having been passed through a major trust breakage in her past has changed me the most, my work revolves around faded colors of mistrust and sorrow. Trust is a very precious word rarely understood; easy to utter but difficult to maintain. Our expressions and feelings are at the mercy of those with whom we pour our heart out.

Unfortunately, one tends to fall into a pit where one has to face one’s own feelings in a rather mocking way. She relates her artwork to ‘Chinese Whispers’ where a topic discussed at an initial level ends up in the most misconstrued way, how a secret is told to one person and then its spread like fire in the woods. She refuses to give out her feelings because for her, trusting an individual is a synonym to impossible.

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