The artwork relies on feminine colours and symbolism. PHOTO: MUHAMMAD JAVAID/EXPRESS
In the background, the golden dome of a shrine is bathed in the diffused light of dusk. A group of women clad from head to toe in thick, coloured shawls — only their backs are visible — line up outside. Then one of them suddenly turns around, breaking into a twirl.
She grips the hem of her long skirt with her hands as if she is about to curtsy. But the freedom of her movement and the grace with which she breaks away from the rather oblivious crowd appear to be a respectful announcement of her courage to dream a different reality.
The still image plays like a movie on Sumera Jawad’s canvas doing justice to the title of the art exhibition where it is displayed.
“Meri Khuli Huee Aankhon Ko Koi Khwab Tau Dey”, which opened at the Nomad Gallery in Islamabad on Wednesday, features paintings from three artists: Ufaq Ehsan, Tayyaba Aziz and Jawad. It will continue till May 31.
The show’s title is derived from a poem by Kishwar Naheed and is a powerfully innovative yet sensitive statement of the feminine, reflecting Naheed’s own rebellious poetry.
The gallery’s director Nageen Hyat said the work epitomises the artists’ inner strengths and brings their own brands of sensitivity to their work.
“The artists (and their paintings) are full of courage and hope at a local and universal level of refinement,” Hyat stated.
Jawad’s paintings rely on soft, feminine colours and symbolism — flowers, burqas make frequent appearances — to express a sense of freedom.
She achieves a separation of space and colour that makes her images more relatable to the everyday reality of women in a universally patriarchial world.
While Jawad, who has a PhD in Fine Arts from the Punjab University, seems comfortable with contemporary art, Aziz is more experimental in her paintings. She categorises herself as an “analytical cubist”, taking the avant-garde art form made famous by Pablo Picasso and placing female forms and still-life in the geometrical shapes.
“I depict the world as it is not as it seems, “Aziz said, in a written statement. “I analyse the subject from multiple view points and reconstruct it within a geometrical framework and distort it by using many colours of full palette.”
The third artist, Ehsan, paints on a broader canvas, one that appears to traverse whole galaxies in a mix of exuberant colours and complicated, controlled shapes. Despite having a sci-fi quality to her designs, Ehsan’s paintings retain a visceral quality that is communicated mostly through her use of vibrant colours.
“My work is inspired by this wonderful world of colours and their healing powers,” she said, in a written statement.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 23rd, 2013.
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