Vintage images with ‘modern’ titles on display

Other artists whose works are on display at When Worlds Collide exhibition are a painter and a photographer

LAHORE: Jav Arshad, a Karachi based artist, displayed 21 digital images obtained from multiple online sources and edited by herself at a day-long exhibition at the Paint Bucket Gallery on Saturday.

Recalling the moment she decided to collect these images, she said she was surfing the internet one day when she came across some of the images featured in The Vintage People series.

She said she played around with the images and gave them appropriate titles. While the original images were vintage, she said, the titles chosen for them were done keeping in view modern trends so that viewers could relate to them. “The photographs used in the series are sourced material. I edited them myself,” she said.

Arshad has not formally studied fine arts. Her undergraduate degree was in business and she has a full-time job at an advertising agency. About her interest in art, she said, “an honest mistake had led her to the world of arts.

Curator Anum Lasharie said she had decided to put together the exhibition the moment she came across Arshad’s work. “I found her work brilliant. It’s modern but has been done differently. I believe artists like her who don’t have formal training in art should also be promoted,” she said.

Faiqa Usman and Husnain Mahmood were the other artists whose works were showcased at When Worlds Collide exhibition.

Faiqa Usman, a National College of Arts (NCA) miniature painting graduate, displayed six gouache-on-vasli paintings titled If the World Crashes. “I’ve tried to show that by taking so many photographs of a particular moment, we sometimes end up altering our memories of the moment. Her six paintings are based on photographs she took during her childhood.

Because of her father’s job in the army, she said  her family had to frequently move places during her childhood. Some of the images she’s painted are of plains and soldiers testing grenades.

Husnain Mahmood’s digital prints were divided in several series. One of the series was based on the story of a girl sold into prostitution at a young age.

He said he had darkened the images set in the Walled City on purpose to symbolise her plight. “It’s the story of a girl for whom the sun never rises,” he said. Another series contained images of human bodies arranged in a manner that they appeared like a landscape.  “I’ve made these images to show that nature can be seen everywhere,” he said. Mahmood, a Punjab University graduate, said he had four years of experience in fashion and art photography.

Art teacher RM Naeem was also present on the occasion. “When I heard about the show I was curious about how one could exhibit paintings alongside digital images. The curator has done a great job though,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2016.