Zeitgeist: Spirit of the time

Exhibition featuring work of five artists commences at Ejaz Art Gallery.

LAHORE: Zeitgeist, an exhibition featuring the work of five artists, commenced at the Ejaz Art Gallery on Thursday. 

Mariam Hanif, one of the artists and the curator of the show, said mystery had always fascinated her. She said her work on display explored the idea of anthropomorphism. Hanif said it was primarily premised on how she viewed the living and the non-living with some human attributes.

“One can see a black cat appearing throughout the series. It draws heavily on symbolism and metaphors – the cat, the bird and the fish cohabiting in one space,” Hanif said. She said her work signified hope as she wanted to see pluralism flourish in the society.

Hanif said the title of the exhibition had been inspired by Hegel’s philosophical arguments regarding the concept of zeitgeist. The artist graduated from the National College of Arts (NCA) in 2009 with a degree in visual arts.

Kiran Saleem said she had tried to explore the fine lines between illusion, delusion and hallucination in her work. She said some of her work explored the question of what constitutes art in relation to reality and unreality. Saleem said this had made her work with old masters’ paintings. She said one could feel the presence of their subjects when observing their paintings. “It looks real,” Saleem said. She said her own work came across as being real but was not. “My work revolves around images offering an altered perception of the original,” Saleem said. The artist graduated from the NCA in 2014 with a degree in visual arts.

Anil Waghela said his work was about appropriated images. Waghela said it explored how artists tended to present stolen images as their own. “When one comes across a work of art it becomes etched in their mind. They unconsciously derive inspiration from it when they work on something similar,” he said. The artist graduated from the NCA in 2014 with a degree in fine arts.

Scheherezade Junejo said her pieces depicted the transition that her work had undergone. Junejo said it was premised on symmetry and commented on the bipolar nature of human behaviour. She said this had evolved into a study of polarity. “I see the word in many shades of grey. I have tried to desexualise and dehumanise the nude figure by repetition, rotation and manipulated it to de-objectify our perception of it,” Junejo said. The artist graduated from the NCA in 2009 with a degree in fine arts.

The work of Sausan Saulat uses the body as a metaphor to navigate physical and psychological spaces. It refers to the implications of cultural baggage and the dysfunctional nature of retrogressive gender roles furthered by national media. Dichotomous stereotypes recur throughout with a passive heroine shown in several tightly constructed avatars. Saulat has studied at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in 2006 and the Savannah College of Art in the United States.

The show will conclude on March 7.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 7^th, 2015.