When I first came across the title Interrupted Reveries, I found myself pausing to think about the display. The curator Fatma Shah translates this title as ‘Khwab o Khayal’ in Urdu. And this reminded me of the French philosopher Gaston…
This essay is based on an interview between the author and Karachi-born, Brooklyn-based artist Hiba Schahbaz. Hiba Schahbaz’s paintings look autobiographical; self-portraiture is a recurring theme representing her unknown and unresolved cognitive musings. However, the contexts shift visually between the…
In her solo show titled “Lines and Language” at Karachi’s Canvas Gallery, the artist Rabeya Jalil drills into gesture and asks: how do we move, strike, puncture, and scrape? In Jalil’s paintings we may see amorphous blobs, strokes, and patches…
Young artists who feel disconnected with the past may ask why is institutional memory important? How does it help us individually and professionally? These are important questions because academics, historians and cultural institutions have only been able to offer a…
Textiles are one of humanity’s oldest inventions, yet they renew endlessly. From the earliest woven fragments of the Indus Valley to the intricate embroideries of modern-day Pakistan, dyed, embroidered, and stitched cloth has carried memory, identity, and the accumulated knowledge…
Historical retellings of modern art from Western perspectives trace the origins of text-based image making at the beginning of the 20th century. Referring to American consumer culture, influential critics such as Lucy Lippard, W.J.T. Mitchell, and Hal Foster often discussed…
The Land Sings Back, an exhibition showing works of thirteen artists of South Asian, African, and Caribbean heritage at The Drawing Room Tannery Arts in London focuses on our relationship with the environment. Curated by Natasha Ginwala, the show explores…
FIBERS OF MEMORY After graduating from the National College of Arts, Sabah Husain made a remarkable decision. She opted to go to Japan to study printmaking. The choice came with the challenges of learning Japanese and navigating her way in…
Recently I was asked at a local university about the future of art and creativity in the age of Artificial Intelligence (AI). As someone who belongs to the pre-computer generation, all the memories of the 1990s--- when a computerized manufacturing…
When Zohra Husain opened Chawkandi Art gallery, in September of 1985, it was the era of Ali Imam’s Indus Gallery. Writing in The Star, columnist Irfan Husain was sceptical of this new “venture.” While he welcomed the gallery as an…