In his famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell (1903-1950) clearly expresses a concept by giving chapter 19 an incipit that read: “He who controls the present, controls the past. He who controls the past, controls the future.” Orwell's stinging tone…
Since time immemorial man has been attempting to make sense of the complex world around him; compressing and simplifying it through doctrines and scriptures, organizing a multifarious existence into easily digestible absolutes. However, in the current age of globalization and…
‘‘The creative art is not performed by the artist alone; the spectator brings the work in contact with the external world by deciphering and interpreting its inner qualifications and thus adds his contribution to the creative art.’’1 In ‘The Creative…
A solo show in New York is a big deal for any artist and a museum show is the stuff that dreams are made of. This summer, Shahzia Sikander accomplished just that. However, the challenges in this path for any…
While standing face to face with Faiza Butt’s large scale romanticized painting at Grosvenor Gallery, London, the artist’s trajectory echoes in my mind. The works are an ode to nature, where the title Super Natural doesn’t refer to otherworldly beings;…
The area of Anarkali extends south from the Lohari Gate of the old Walled City to across the British-era Mall—a wide tree-lined boulevard. Therefore, it encompasses a large swathe of the city and consists of colonial structures, a residential area1 and…
Fabric, flowers and identity are the threads that plait together the work of artists Adeela Suleman, Bushra Waqas Khan, David Alesworth, Liaqat Rasul and Ruby Chishti in the exhibition Patterns of the Past, Weaving Heritage in ‘Pakistani’ Art. Held at…
Ask the inhabitants of Karachi for their observations on how their city functions, and one of the more common responses will be that they find Karachi to be in perpetual flux. The city portrays itself as a living, breathing organism.…
As a South Asian, one is more than likely to be familiar with chicken pattices or ‘patties’, and have seen them being served at least at one social gathering. These crispy, golden-brown pastries filled with soft, warm meat filling have…
Following the tradition of the modern painter, artist Qadir Jhatial mirrors the world around him through colorful abstraction on canvas as showcased in his second solo show Times of the Day. A graduate of the National College of Arts, Jhatial…