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…
When Salt Becomes Sanctuary The Pakistan Pavilion, Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai, Japan At the core of Expo 2025 Osaka --- whose theme, Designing Future Societies for Our Lives, imagines tomorrow’s world through today’s choices --- the Pakistan Pavilion emerges not…
The recent 2025 floods in Pakistan echo a devastatingly familiar script from 2022. A recurring nightmare has once again befallen our nation: villages submerged, millions displaced, and an overwhelmed relief system6 . More than 4.2 million people were affected and…
In the ever-evolving terrain of contemporary South Asian art, the work of Ghulam Mohammad also known as GM, emerges as a meditative and materially intricate inspection of language, identity, and memory. A recipient of the prestigious Jameel Art Prize in…
Most contemporary buzz words including--- but not limited to--- decolonisation, heritage, and culture are applicable to the show Tigers and Dragons: India and Wales in Britain at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery in Swansea, Wales. At this juncture, a liminal…
About two decades ago, during a visit to India, I found myself at an emporium in Udaipur, Rajasthan. The space was alive with colour and devotion—walls adorned with Pichwais and other forms of Krishna-inspired devotional art, while artisans worked in…
In an introduction to the exhibition (Un)layering the future past of South Asia: Young Artists Voices states, ‘Artists in the region ruminate on many common concerns; the creative imagination in seemingly disparate locations is curiously connected by resilience and inventiveness.36’…
Waqas Khan’s art reflects traces of ancient symbols related to both history and the process of evolution. Khan exhibits extraordinary patience throughout his artistic journey, which, despite seeming infinite, ultimately comes to an end. His creations consist of numerous marks,…
In a world preoccupied with certainty, Sara Aslam’s work offers something quietly radical: permission to remain in flux. Across the globe, cities are growing at unprecedented rates, with over 56% of the world’s population now living in urban areas, a…