When we contemplate the origins of visually mapping environments the first image that comes to mind are paintings and pictographs found in prehistoric caves and early sanctuaries; these rudimentary drawings became the foundational syntax of social communication systems that provide…
It’s a curious twist of fate when you discover that not only do you share a name --- with just a slight variation in spelling --- with a renowned artist across the border, but you also share the same birth…
In 1944 a spiky haired boy tried teaching himself swimming, using a clay pot for assistance in the West Bengal River. Abul Mansoor Ahmed—as he was then known—was curious and regularly in trouble. As an adult he would do weighty…
Curated by Waheeda Baloch, the fourth Karachi Biennale titled ‘رزق | Risk --- Food, Futures & Fair Practices’, foregrounds socio-economic and political complexities surrounding local and global food systems and traditional dietary customs, and their entanglement with human practices, culture, heritage,…
ADA was the result of the efforts of Architect Maria Aslam who began a quarterly publication focusing on documenting architecture art and design practices in Pakistan and surrounding regions in 2008. She envisioned it as a national archive of creative…
Race-ing Art History: Critical Readings in Race and Art History Author: Leon Wainwright Originally published in NuktaArt, Vol 1, Two, October 2006 Cover Design: Sabiha Mohammad Imani Source of inspiration: Painting by Sumaya Durrani and images taken from Karkhana A…
The human urge for storytelling has existed as long as recorded history (or perhaps it prompted the need for the latter), and though it takes on different forms and flavors depending on location, culture and time, its need transcends such…
Art historian and critic Nageen Jawaid Shaikh and academic, researcher, and actor Tazeen Hussain interview art interventionist, author, and CEO Karachi Biennale: Niilofur Farrukh. The conversation is a part of the public initiative “Writers and Readers Cafe” (#78), at the…
The practice of creating miniature paintings, which traditionally were commissioned to illustrate religious stories, scientific texts, poetry, tales, and imperial histories, was scrupulous and extremely attentive to details. In the South-east Asian region, regardless of its strong connection with present-day…
Stories are always powerful, they are fragments of the self that we give wings to. They can be born as art, musical scores, film, poem or performance, as an outpouring of all that has gestated, sometimes it means peeling of…