“The readers of Art Thinkings will be introduced to pioneers whose disruption changed the way art was perceived for centuries. Insights into the vision of determined mavericks who energized a movement by setting up Art spaces and academic institutions, who carried out early documentation and experimented with idioms that re-defined the Art of Pakistan. The unshrouding of these undocumented moments will bring into focus some new contours.
I am hoping this column will engage a new generation into a dialogue around Art history and provoke interesting conversations. Thank you TKC for this invitation.” – Niilofur Farrukh
Niilofur Farrukh is a Karachi based art interventionist whose seminal initiatives have expanded the space for art publication, curation and public art in Pakistan. Her primary interest lies in issues of decolonization and as a writer/curator her focus has been on the excavation of lost interdisciplinary connections within the cultural matrix. As a keen observer of her country’s history, her critical writings underline the impact of politics and ideology on art.
She has several books to her credit, the recent ones are A Beautiful Despair, the Art and Life of Meher Afroz and Pakistan’s Radioactive Decade- an informal cultural history of the 1970s. Niilofur has been a columnist with Dawn and Newsline and served as the Founding Editor of NuktaArt. Over the last three decades she has contributed extensively to South Asian art journals and been invited to present papers at national and international seminars. She has also conceptualized and organized several seminars in Pakistan and abroad. Niilofur Farrukh has served on the Board of International Art Critics Association.
The cornerstone of her curatorial practice is inclusivity and community interface. Her landmark exhibitions are No Honor In Killing, Making Visible Buried Truth, a response to entrenched gender violence. It was accompanied by extensive community dialogue in all the five towns of Pakistan it toured. Other major projects as a co-curator are The Radioactive Decade and four iterations of ASNA Clay Triennale.
Image Credit: Faran Qureshi, Mango Media Creative Services
