A group of multidisciplinary artists and a studious curator convene at Barkat Ali Islamia Hall, opposite Mochi Gate, along a circular road in Lahore. They investigate indigenous knowledge systems and their intersections with ecology, ancient history, mythology, and mysticism, thoroughly examining how these elements have influenced contemporary cultural traditions in South Asia. The show Knowledge of the Ancients underscored the importance of art in preserving ecological and cultural heritage. Featuring contributions from 16 artists, it showcased a variety of media including installations, miniatures, video, and sculpture; each piece testified to the region’s enduring wisdom. Presented by Foundation Art Divvy, Knowledge of the Ancients, is a collateral exhibition to the Lahore Biennale 03. Zahra Khan’s curatorial framework highlighted the interconnection between the past and present while emphasising sustainability and collective memory. Through this exhibition, she fostered a dialogue between traditional knowledge systems and their contemporary reinterpretations, ensuring their lasting relevance in an increasingly globalised world.

Mohsin Shafi’s Every Seed Has a Story is an evocative exploration of the delicate balance between ecological fragility and resilience, employing layered imagery and soundscapes to create a multi-sensory experience. Shafi reflects on how environmental degradation intersects with cultural memory through projections, fabric installations, and theta wave soundscapes. His work is deeply rooted in the idea that every seed carries life and a story; of survival, adaptation, and generational wisdom. Shafi draws inspiration from indigenous South Asian practices of ecological preservation, reminiscent of Vandana Shiva’s advocacy for seed sovereignty as a form of cultural resistance¹. The physicality of his installation—fabric panels layered with delicate imagery—echoes the fragility of ecosystems and the transient nature of human impact on the environment.

Utilising theta wave binaural soundscapes imparts a meditative quality to the work, linking it to spiritual traditions in South Asia that emphasise harmony between humans and nature. This element of Shafi’s practice resonates with the Sufi philosophy of Wahdat al-Wujud (unity of being), underscoring interconnectedness in the natural world. The immersive experience created by sound and visuals faintly echoes ephemerality that evokes histories of transformation and decay. Shafi’s work critiques industrialisation and urban sprawl, reflecting on biodiversity loss in areas such as Punjab. His poetic visual language and narrative approach invite viewers to contemplate their relationships with nature and memory, accentuating the urgent need to preserve the fragile ecosystems that sustain us. Shafi emphasises the interconnectedness of all life through an emotional blend of the personal and the universal.

Comparably, Sohail Zuberi centres his multidisciplinary, research-based practice on maritime histories and coastal narratives. He critically examines Karachi’s urban landscape, focusing on the city’s dichotomies and ecological shifts. Zuberi’s installation, The Beach as Archive, transforms Karachi’s coastline into a repository of cultural and environmental histories. His engagement with maritime narratives reflects the scholarly view that the collapse of the Indus Valley Civilisation resulted from climate change². Zuberi’s salvaged materials evoke the aesthetic of Jannis Kounellis³ , whose use of found objects interrogates histories of migration and commerce. His work is deeply rooted in historical and environmental research, as illustrated in his Archaeologies of Tomorrow series. This body of work developed over fifteen years, centres on a 2.3-kilometre stretch of Karachi’s sahil (beach) and examines the interplay between humans and the ocean. By collecting objects washed ashore—flotsam, jetsam, and marine fossils—Zuberi creates narratives that address themes of ecological change, cultural heritage, and human impact.

One of his standout pieces, Seascape 12, utilises salvaged wood and turquoise hues to symbolise Karachi’s seafaring traditions and Sindh’s ancient maritime connections. This work pays homage to the boats, known as Hori, which have been central to Sindh’s trade and culture for millennia. Another piece, Treasure Chest, displays over 2,000 cowrie shells gathered between 2010 and 2022. Historically used as currency and still significant in rituals, the shells evoke the region’s deep ties to the Indian Ocean and its socio-cultural exchanges. Zuberi’s Aristotle’s Lantern features sea urchins collected from the coastline.

Their intricate structures reflect resilience in environmental stressors like pollution and climate change. Similarly, his triptych Man v Nature juxtaposes the now-scarce Ipomoea vine, a coastal stabiliser against the encroachment of artificial structures, showcasing the fragile balance between natural ecosystems and urban development.

In Gastrpod Marine Fossil, Zuberi presents a 200-million-year-old gastropod fossil that connects Karachi’s landscape—once part of the prehistoric Tethys Sea—and highlights the significance of this fossil. It underscores geological heritage and emphasises the continuity of ecological narratives. Another striking piece, Treasure Chest, assembles cowrie shells historically valued for their cultural and monetary significance, reminding viewers of the ocean’s enduring connections to human prosperity. Through these works, Zuberi transforms Sahil (Beach) into an archive, layering its myths, histories, and ecological processes. His meticulous curation of objects—each a fragment of Karachi’s coastal memory—invites viewers to reflect on the intricate relationships between humanity, the ocean, and the ever-shifting landscapes shaped by time and development.

While Shafi focuses on seeds’ metaphysical and symbolic aspects as carriers of stories, Zuberi’s archives of salvaged marine objects represent tangible remnants of ecological and historical shifts. Together, they advocate for rethinking our relationship with the environment—whether through nurturing seeds or preserving artefacts from eroded ecologies, both suggest a delicate balance between remembrance and regeneration.

Wardha Shabbir’s intricate miniature paintings foster a profound dialogue between nature and resilience, providing a meditative exploration of human connection through the lens of ecological harmony. In her evocative work, Savannah of the City, trees emerge as powerful symbols of endurance, representing the fragility and tenacity of life within urban landscapes. Shabbir’s artistic vision resonates deeply with the ecological spirituality of Rabindranath Tagore, reflecting his belief in the interconnectedness of humanity and the natural world⁴. Through her delicate brushwork and layered compositions, she reimagines nature as both a backdrop and a vital participant in the human experience. Her trees, rendered with reverence and intricacy, become symbols of hope and collective strength, inviting viewers to reflect on the enduring bond between people and the environment.

Risham Syed’s Khayalmala is a heartfelt digital archive project that preserves the classical music legacy of her mother, Samina Hasan Syed (1944–2016). A celebrated singer and educator, Samina meticulously documented her lessons with Ustad Chotay Ghulam Ali Khan of the Qawwal Bacha Gharana, recording over a decade of raag compositions, anecdotes, and storytelling. This archive, comprising digitised cassettes organised by Thaats (musical modes), is a valuable resource for practitioners and scholars of South Asian classical music. Khayalmala transcends personal memory, offering a glimpse into an era marked by meticulous dedication to preserving cultural traditions. By safeguarding these lessons and performances, Syed bridges generational knowledge and keeps alive the spirit of her mother’s devotion to classical music. The archive is a tribute to Samina’s life and a celebration of the deep and enduring legacy of South Asian classical music, ensuring its continued relevance and inspiration for future generations. Through Khayalmala, Risham Syed transforms personal heritage into a public repository of cultural preservation. This stimulating project serves as a reminder of the South Asian tradition of oral preservation, championed by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy in his ethnomusicological studies⁵.

Karachi-based visual artist Muzzumil Ruheel’s series, Choose Your Words, critically examines the sanitisation of language to control narratives, text, and power in general. His critique aligns with the explorations of Gerald Roche⁶ and Mahasweta Devi⁷ regarding language as a mechanism of systemic oppression within Indigenous communities. Rooted in traditional calligraphy, his works transform the text into abstract visual forms, investigating how language and history are curated, sanitised, and stripped of context, as evidenced in the exhibited pieces Character 12 Round & Around and Character 15 – Two Sides. In Character 7 Options II – Long, Ruheel skillfully merges the symbolic power of the pen and the sword, highlighting their intertwined roles in shaping history. The elongated, abstract forms evoke the fluidity of written language alongside the sharpness of a blade, blurring the lines between creation and destruction. This amalgamation reflects the duality of knowledge—both a tool for enlightenment and an instrument of control. Ruheel’s work serves as a poignant reminder that language, akin to the sword, can either liberate or oppress, asserting the delicate balance between expression and authority in the ever-evolving narratives of human civilisation. His abstract textual forms also resonate with the conceptual approaches of Jenny Holzer, whose works interrogate the intersections of language, power, and visibility.

Syed and Ruheel explore how verbal and musical languages shape historical and cultural memory. While Ruheel critiques the erasure of linguistic diversity, Syed emphasises the importance of preserving fleeting musical traditions. They connect through their shared focus on cultural resilience.

Anushka Rustomji’s Ready-Made Ruin II critiques cultural erasure through temporary materials. Her drawing on the red brick floor, created with chalk powder, explores themes of impermanence and erasure before one enters the Barkat Ali Islamia Hall. The work’s erasure by rainfall becomes integral to its meaning, underscoring the fragility of existence and the ease with which history and memory can be lost. Chalk, a transient medium, reflects this ephemerality. The rain acts as a collaborator, completing the cycle of creation and destruction while highlighting the transient nature of art and all things. This unexpected erasure within the context of an exhibition further emphasises the work’s core message about the fleeting nature of time and memory.

Saba Qizilbash’s intricately drawn work, Prince Gholam Mahomed – Calcutta to Southampton, illustrates the cartography of the displacement of the last surviving son of Tipu Sultan, the Indian warrior-emperor of Mysore. Her drawing reflects the precision of Mughal miniatures while critiquing geopolitical power structures. It vividly depicts atrocities, looting, and the struggle to safeguard Tipu Sultan’s privy purses. One can easily empathise with the pain, grief, and uprootedness caused by forced migration by watching the unsettling historical drama film The Black Prince, penned and directed by Kavi Raz, which portrays the last prince of Punjab, Maharaja Duleep Singh⁸. The Sikh prince ascended to the throne at just five years old. However, when the British annexed India, he was sent to England and was never allowed to return. As his character evolves, he finds himself torn between two cultures. Numerous authors have thoroughly documented these true stories. Qizilbash’s work thoughtfully interrogates geopolitical divisions and the impact of gaslighting on both individual and collective mentalities—fictionally yet authentically.

On a different tangent, Saba Khan’s film Forest Nomadism also highlights the concerns of a particular tribe’s temporary migration. During COVID, footage was captured depicting the Gujjar nomadic community’s migration from the plains of Jhelum to the Himalayan foothills of Murree. Their communal encampment on private land reveals their vulnerability to weather, health issues, and governmental policies. Rising costs and checkpoints have shortened their traditional routes. The Gujjars’ historical freedom to roam across Asia and Europe, from which the Roma descend, is now restricted by borders.

Bibi Hajra’s A Lamentation is a poetic companion to her visual art. It highlights the delicate balance of nature and its entanglement with human influence. Hajra employs the metaphor of a cherished ancient mother tree to explore themes of loss, memory, and renewal. The dome, portrayed as a radiant spectacle, starkly contrasts with the tree’s destruction, symbolising the sacrifice of natural heritage for architectural splendour. The poetic statement critiques societal values, illustrating how the once vital roots of the earth are severed by industrial progress and urban expansion. Hajra vividly envisions a tree whose branches no longer reach for the cosmos, whose roots are consumed by rust, and whose shadows no longer dance. This imagery conveys profound grief for the tree and the fractured bond between humanity and the natural world. The phrase “must be the metal foundations going deeper than her roots” emphasises modern development’s invasive and exploitative nature. Hajra likens the harm done to the earth to bodily injury, portraying the tree as a nurturing maternal figure whose essence has been violated.

Amra Khan’s To All the Gods I’ve Loved Before employs religious and cosmic symbolism to provide a heart-rending critique of displacement and loss. Drawing on salvaged materials and structures reminiscent of altarpieces, Khan constructs monumental forms where history and myth intersect, offering a space to explore memory and belonging. Her syncretic approach intertwines Abrahamic and local motifs, reflecting the inclusive religious ethos of South Asia—a theme explored by scholar Diana Eck. By reimagining traditional symbols, Khan transcends singular narratives, creating a layered visual language that resonates with the region’s diverse spiritual heritage. Her work examines the intersections of the sacred and the personal, transforming art-making into an act of devotion and resistance. Through this dynamic interplay of materials, forms, and symbols, Khan invites viewers to reflect on the shared human experience of longing and resilience, bridging the divine and the earthly in profoundly evocative ways.

Samar F. Zia’s works vividly capture the delicate balance between urban development and the natural world, especially within Pakistan’s climate change context. Inspired by the devastating urban floods, her work, including Mausami Mansubabandi (Seasonal Planning), looks into water memory, where nature reclaims its space, challenging human notions of ownership and planning. Utilising intricate techniques of miniature painting, Zia infuses her art with a quiet urgency, granting nature a sympathetic voice. By adopting a distinctive hexagonal format, she expands the boundaries of this traditional art form, creating layered and distorted perspectives that evoke a sense of entrapment and loss. This innovative approach melds the two-dimensional with a perceived fourth dimension, reflecting the complex interplay between human intervention and ecological consequences. As environmental historian William Cronon asserts, “Once we see ourselves as part of nature, we must also see nature as part of us,” a sentiment echoed in Zia’s exploration of interconnectedness. Her art is a powerful visual commentary on the urgent need for sustainable practices and a deeper understanding of our connection to the environment.

Mamoona Riaz maps identity through the patterns in her Sacred Topography III, examining urban growth through the lens of spiritual geometry. Her mechanical-shamsa motif aligns with the architectural philosophies that sought to harmonise modernity and tradition in urban spaces. Riaz’s intricate cartographic layers reflect meditative explorations of time and space. Mamoona’s sculptural piece, Like Clockwork VI, resembles a city of cogs and gears, symbolising interdependence, with each part driving the whole. It reflects humanity’s mechanised progress while questioning individuality within the complex machinery of existence.

Conversely, Sara Pagganwala’s Bi83 Series explores materiality through bismuth, a high-density, silvery metal with various hues. This aligns with Jabir ibn Hayyan’s alchemical philosophies, which laid the foundation for modern chemistry. They emphasise the importance of empirical evidence, systematic experimentation, and more speculative approaches⁹. Interestingly, one can easily connect Riaz’s and Pagganwala’s works to a bird’ s-eye perspective, often proposed by architects and town planners. As a curious observer, one appreciates the intricate details and unusual landscapes revealed from a satellite viewpoint.

Farida Batool, inspired by her grandfather’s Hikmat—his meticulously documented writings and deeply rooted healing practices using local Indigenous plants—examines the delicate and essential process of intergenerational transmission of medicinal knowledge in her work Hakeem ki Beti. Batool’s mother’s experience, learning these time-honoured practices first-hand through observation and active participation with her parents, vividly illustrates the significance of preserving this invaluable cultural heritage and local wisdom. Through evocative imagery and symbolic representation, her works evolve into visual narratives of love, resilience, and healing, anchored in the rich tapestry of our ancient traditions.

They strive to document and evoke the sensory experience of these practices, from the fragrant aromas of the plants to the whispered incantations passed down through generations.

In an intriguing video on loop, A Seat on Circular Road, Anna Russell and Pei-Chi Lee present a compassionate meditation on manual labour through weaving, time, and the rhythms of life in Pakistan. By repairing a broken chair discovered on a rooftop, the film revisits the informal systems of measurement that characterise traditional crafts in South Asia. Here, the human body—its span, reach, and length—serves as the precision unit, reflecting the improvisational ethos of desi craftsmanship. Making transforms into a performance: a string is measured from fingertip to fingertip, the body stretching and bending in fluid motion, embodying the resourcefulness and intimacy of handwork. Structured in four acts, the film unfolds with elegant choreography: the chair frame is placed where it was found, materials are prepared using embodied measurements, and the chair is woven anew. The narrative culminates in Boota, their driver, seated in the finished chair, quietly observing the vibrancy of Lahore’s streets. Boota’s stillness starkly contrasts the city’s dynamic energy, evoking the interplay between labour and rest, transience and permanence. For Russell and Lee, Lahore’s slower pace mirrors their shifting sense of time as the oppressive heat and tactile labour draw them into the lived rhythms of their surroundings.

Natasha Malik’s Home is a Mirage, an Indo-Persian miniature-inspired work, critiques erasures and explores loss and identity through a literary lens. The surreal landscape transcends mere depiction, becoming a poignant commentary on decay and the search for meaning in a changing world. Fragmented figures, a dynamic landscape, and a central droplet metaphorically represent the elusive nature of home, a theme reinforced by her work that suggests home as an illusion or fading memory. The soft, dreamlike quality achieved through watercolour and pastel amplifies the work’s exploration of memory and longing, prompting viewers to reflect on their experiences of displacement and belonging.

Veera Rustomji’s installation, Phantom Horses, merges sculptural and spatial elements, drawing on equestrian symbolism to explore themes of heritage and identity. The door-mounted ceramic horses evoke notions of thresholds, movement, and passage, resonating with the Avestan term Avanghana (unharnessing) as a metaphor for release and peace. The central piece, positioned on a plinth, features a Sasanian Horse Head sculpture that serves as an anchor, highlighting the reverence for horses in Zoroastrian traditions and nomadic life. In contrast, the arrangement of more miniature ceramic horses along the doors creates a rhythmic, almost ritualistic repetition. Rustomji’s choice to position the work within an architectural frame—doors leading into an illuminated, contemplative space—suggests a movement between the physical and the metaphysical, a journey of unburdening from geographical and doctrinal legacies. The careful juxtaposition of handcrafted ceramic forms, glazed and textured, underscores the artist’s commitment to materiality as a vessel for storytelling, bridging ancient cultural metaphors with contemporary reinterpretations.

The exhibition Knowledge of the Ancients demonstrates the power of art to bridge past and present, drawing on South Asian intellectual traditions and global dialogues. By integrating ecology, history, and mysticism, the artists create narratives of resistance and resilience that resonate across cultural boundaries. The show highlights indigenous knowledge systems’ enduring relevance and role in shaping a sustainable, interconnected future.

The group show ‘Knowledge of the Ancients’, curated by Zahra Khan, was a collateral exhibition for Lahore Biennale 03. It was displayed in the historic Barkat Ali Islamia Hall in Lahore from 3 October to 8 November 2024.

Title Image: Bi83- (detail)I, Sara Pagganwala, Bismuth, Granite, Metal, Variable, 2022

All Images, courtesy Foundation Art Divvy and Aarish Sardar.