Art and The City

Student artists lead a new modern movement in Lahore

Detail of the type of bold, print-style work being developed by Lahore’s art student body. ALL PHOTOGRAPHS © REBECCA CONWAY
01 June, 2010

THE LIGHT AND SPACE in the slick glass-and-pine Drawing Room gallery in Lahore’s central Gulberg district sets off the stunning range of works handpicked by owner and curator Sanam Taseer. Vibrant Impressionist-style images of dancing women hang alongside graphic prints, wooden sculpture and large-scale watercolours reflecting more traditional images of Pakistani landscapes and village life.

The relaxed and exploratory vibe in the gallery is reflected by the rows of frames leaning against the walls and sumptuous couches scattered throughout the space, and is typical of the kind of galleries and exhibition spaces opening in Lahore. Taseer is drawn to diverse, modern and often experimental pieces from up-and-coming talent across the city, regularly showing works by student artists from university degree shows.

Often referred to as Pakistan’s ‘capital of culture,’ Lahore boasts a thriving art scene, with galleries, exhibitions, workshops, courses and events geared to showcasing an ambitious range of talent and mediums. From the development of the Mughal style of miniature painting to the evolution of folk craft, a thriving centre that now sees contemporary artists exploring Pop Art, Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, and a new modern movement building on the traditional miniature has emerged. This fusion of past and contemporary influence is driven by a strong student art movement and a growing contemporary gallery scene.

The new galleries are leading the way with a wash of exhibition spaces that showcase artists who would have previously only been seen in the city’s few established galleries, or in the studios and exhibitions of Lahore’s art schools and colleges. It allows the public greater (and free) access to the artworks inspired by the city in which they live.

“We do use student pieces because those are the fresh ideas coming out of Lahore and it means we can showcase new works, and new artists, not seen elsewhere in the city, by getting pieces in from degree shows, and by looking at what university and college studios are producing,” says Taseer.  She looks for works that are diverse and progressive and notices several defining trends in art coming from students and emerging and established artists. “We use a lot of pieces from degree shows and a lot of them I chose are actually ones I like myself—it’s obviously subjective but the unusual pieces I like are often the popular pieces in the gallery.”  Not only is the use of student pieces a way to showcase new talent, but it also brings emerging artists into the commercial sphere. Taseer says some student pieces can sell for around 100,000 Pakistani rupees.

A visitor to Malcolm Hutcheson’s Angelcopiers exhibition, at the Rhotas 2 gallery. {{name}}

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES within exhibition spaces and the introduction of new media in artistic circles is increasingly influencing the type of art being produced in Lahore. Photography, film and interactive computer programming are now frequently seen in galleries such as Lahore’s Al Hamra complex, which regularly showcases degree shows from Lahori institutions such as Beaconhouse National University (BNU), and video walls, animation and interactive installations are commonly used as forms of expression.

BNU professor and faculty director Salima Hashmi says students are using technology and new media to get their message across. Popular mediums include installations, video, photography and graphic novel art. “Video and animation is really taking off here—most galleries don’t even have the equipment to handle large installations that, say, require multiple video screens, but students and artists are working within the means available.”

In terms of both influence and as a platform for marketing work, Hashmi cites the Internet as a key medium considering the type of work, and outlook, she sees among her students. “It is a tremendous ally as a means to showcase Pakistani artists, and as an influence—as students are getting input and material from around the world that is reflected in their work.

“Students here are following artists from Tokyo, from New York, from Europe, who they admire and are influenced by, and these ideas are shared and assimilated in college and tutorial discussions. Increasingly, the Internet is also being used to market student work, and in some cases the interest generated, particularly in India, has meant some students have paid their way through art college by selling their work. A lot of buyers are seeing works by students displayed online and are buying them up, often in quite large numbers, or they are continually patronising a particular student artist. Sometimes buyers are actually putting students through school, which is excellent especially for less well-off students, because the money they are making is paying for fees, materials, books—it’s allowing them to stay in college.”

The most interesting work in Lahore often comes from the use of new techniques to explore established themes. Sherbano Syed, 24, used her final-year Beaconhouse University graphic design thesis to underline typical Pakistani themes such as the country’s love affair with cricket, and the tradition of hijab with messages denouncing terrorism. She used graphic design and slick cartoon work to comment on social ills and criticise Western perceptions of the nation as a dangerous and failing state.

Her images show cricketers batting away hand-grenades, young men carrying bullets between their teeth, and veiled women bound in chains. The black, white and red prints are captioned with slogans such as, ‘Pakistan—Where Sport can Explode,’ ‘Pakistan—Where Men are Terrorists’ and ‘Pakistan—Where Women are Oppressed.’ This is a direct example of modern media and political messages coming together, and defines much of what city galleries currently showcase.

On what drives her work, Sherbano says, “I’ve wondered on my travels abroad why people are surprised by my nationality. The image their media had burned in their minds was of a land where men were violent and women were covered head to toe and confined. This initiated my thesis—the whole idea of how a going perception could not always be 100 percent accurate.”

The Mughal interior of Lahore’s Badshahi Mosque, another example of the type of art and architecture seen across the city. {{name}}

Other recurring ideas in students’ work focus on the role of women in society, and terror and conflict. National College of Art (NCA) student Ali Reza uses much of his pared-down sculpture work to examine the human cost of the conflict in Afghanistan, and repercussions it has for Pakistan. His piece ‘Human’ is a direct reference to this—a simple sculpture of a man with cracks running over his skin, symbolising pain leaving the body. The work coming out of the city’s universities and the pieces on display in contemporary galleries offer key insights into how artists see themselves both in terms of living in a country in the international spotlight and their own place in society.

NCA third-year student Karren Jamir has used her art to explore the wearing of the veil, and Taliban rule in Afghanistan in the 1990s. The 22-year-old has used her sculptures to portray partially veiled women to comment on issues of female suppression and the social problems women face as a result of being largely hidden from society, or afraid to leave the purdah they enjoy at home. Professors and visiting tutors at Lahore’s teaching institutions say they see much comment and even protest coming through in student art, but also that many are looking beyond traditional themes and exploring new influence and subject matter.

Visual artist Zahra Syed spent a year teaching at BNU and explains that terror and conflict are bound to influence the emerging generation of Pakistan’s contemporary artists, particularly because of the level of attacks in urban areas, where artists and art colleges are based. “The gravity of the problem hits you when it creeps into your personal space.”

Zahra also notes that much wider themes are being explored. “Many times it is more subtly linked. Themes of paranoia, fear, disorder, tyranny, poverty and domestic violence come out. Chaos and disorder were the overarching themes, as they are in life in Lahore. A lot of what my students were doing was very avant-garde and verging on pretentious. But I saw that they were drawing from the environment around them.”

A National College of Art student, painter Nasir Jaan, recently created ‘Supernatural,’ a self-portrait that depicts the artist surrounded by the stretched and hate-filled expressions of others, and the naked frame of a woman in response to a film that shows the Taliban in the Swat Valley publicly flogging a screaming young woman. Jaan says the image was designed to show that despite such evils existing in Pakistani society, “The Pakistani nation is supernatural—it faces everything and still survives.”

Another direct influence comes straight from the students themselves, from their backgrounds, upbringings and places of birth. Hashmi says, “… it really has to do with where a person is from.”

Lahore’s student body is made up of a diverse mix of those from rural and remote communities, sometimes from underprivileged backgrounds, to those who have led well-travelled urban lives, and this assimilation certainly shows in the images being shown at degree shows and student exhibitions—images of rural life often sit alongside graphic novel-style prints depicting very urban scenes.

In terms of the quality of contemporary art, Hashmi believes a tradition of intense focus on production and technique, and the fact that many of Pakistan’s key emerging and established artists teach at the city’s finest art schools, contribute to the student movement. Hashmi says: “There is a huge respect and observation of the way pieces are crafted. Artwork here is very well-crafted and there is a marked emphasis on quality.

“This approach has come right from the time of the Mughal and miniature painting up to today, and you see a continuation of that same technical approach—whether an artist is laying paint, stretching a canvas, learning to draw. There is a finesse in the work you see here, under the instruction very often of talented and established artists who can pass on their own skills.”

LAHORE’S STUDENT ARTISTS are not always Pakistani—and a project to enable and support budding artists from across South Asia is contributing to the diversity and depth to the art being produced at the city’s colleges. Spurred on by the work of the South Asia Foundation, a youth and peace-oriented initiative that is building ties between artists from the subcontinent and across Asia, the idea is also influencing the artistic community in general.

Founded by UNESCO goodwill ambassador Madd Majid Singh, the organisation funds journalism and art scholarships on the understanding that funding goes to students attending programmes that incorporate students from across Asia.

Student and professional artists display side-by-side at the Drawing Room gallery. {{name}}

BNU faculty head Salima Hashmi explains the aim of the programme: “We have students from across Asia, from India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka—it influences other artists too and it brings a level of inclusion not seen elsewhere… It aims to bring talent together and provide chances for students who otherwise wouldn’t have those chances.

“We battle to get the Indian students visas, we really try so hard, lobbying people to get them in, and for the past seven years we’ve succeeded and at BNU we have students coming from across the continent to study here.” Increasingly, in both galleries and degree shows, Indian techniques from miniature painting to detailed depictions of rural tribal life have sat alongside work from Bhutanese and Sri Lankan students, representative of the type of diverse mix of influence and talent that is propelling the growth of Lahore’s contemporary art scene.

IN TERMS OF HOW THESE ART TRENDS are perceived by the local people, Syed points to the movement’s limited reach in Lahore: “The art we usually talk about here is what the upper-middle class, the elite, produces and consumes—art that can be put up in galleries, or on the web. There is no street art apart from some graffiti poking fun at the dysfunctional government.” Despite a traditional flavour in many of Lahore’s artistic exhibitions, showcasing modern art in Lahore is still largely confined to the city’s more upmarket areas, with galleries often coming up near major commercial areas, or in middle-class suburbia.

Interest in contemporary Pakistani art is starting to come through abroad, with exhibitions such as the recent New York Asia Society Museum’s Hanging Fire: Contemporary Art from Pakistan opening under the direction of BNU professor and faculty director Salima Hashmi, which challenged the Western perception of the country.

“With Hanging Fire we had several objectives.” says Hashmi. “A lot of curators were asking about bringing an exhibition to the United States and finally the Asia Society there approached me formally, and so I started looking at artists. The idea was to look at those people who had not been shown abroad.” Although Lahore is at the heart of a miniature painting and contemporary art boom that has seen the country’s most established and famous artists such as Rashid Rana, Shahzia Sikander and Aisha Kahlid come to the fore, it was equally important to showcase lesser-known artists.

“The outcome was very positive,” she says. “We had press coverage all over the US because Hanging Fire demonstrated that you can have extremely lively, iconoclastic output coming out of a society that people have already stereotyped.”

Habib Alam’s pared-down sculpture work at the Drawing Room gallery. {{name}}

,Hashmi explains that the exhibition was meant to dispel myths surrounding Pakistani art and society, particularly surrounding the well-documented issues of terrorism and conflict. “There was not a strong response to terror in the show. People assimilate influences and those who can read artworks can see the messages in them—but as a society in Pakistan there isn’t an overt response to things, so of course artwork reflects that.”

The call by the Asia Society, while not indicative of mass interest abroad, does display a recognition that Pakistani art has a place in the global contemporary sphere, and that students who are forming the backbone of the up-and-coming Lahori art scene will have outlets further afield to pass on their particular brand of message and medium.