Of borders, boundaries and nationalities

Artists talk about borders, identity and their impact on their work

LAHORE: “People are beyond borders and so is art. Borders keep moving and changing; hence people should have the courage to move beyond these borders,” artist Quddus Mirza said on Saturday.

He was speaking at a session, titled Art Beyond Borders, on the first day of Khayaal Festival at Alhamra on The Mall. Artist Aziz Sohail moderated the session. Artists Abdullah Qureshi and Risham Hosain Syed also spoke at the session.

“As an artist and a person living in the post 9/11 and Paris attacks times, I feel that borders are important for everyone, particularly for those who express themselves,” Mirza said. “Borders don’t only mean national borders. These include borders defined by religion, faith, race, culture and ideas.”

Calling himself a reluctant artist, Mirza said that art not should be seen as mechanical labour. He also talked about his work produced during his stay in India, including a show he curated there. “When an artist creates a piece, he thinks of someone looking at it, understanding it and relating to it,” he said.

“Beyond national borders, I believe there are all sorts of boundaries including gender and class. Artists question these boundaries. They talk about them, sometimes through their work,” Risham Hosain Syed said. She said her work, too, was about boundaries and women’s role of in the society. She said her interest in history had increased when she went to London for her studies in the ‘90s. “I started looking at Lahore from a displaced position. I would think about Lahore’s connection to London and colonialism,” she said. Syed said that most of her work contained references to history.

“When I was studying in London, I started asking myself what it meant to be a Pakistani,” said Qureshi, founder of the 39K gallery. “Hailing from a privileged space, I had little idea about what the nation means… I had left one bubble and moved into another,” he said. Qureshi showed some of his early work. He said that during that time he had started questioning his identity. Sohail said the topic was a contentious issue. “Each of the participants has tried to address it in their work,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 29^th, 2015.