Thesis show: Showing emotion, perception through artwork

22 amateur artists sculpt, print and paint for final project


Mariam Shafqat October 04, 2016

LAHORE: “My work is a direct reference to how I perceive reality, especially at a first glance,” student Mawra Khokhar says.

Mawra gave a gist of her thesis while speaking about her work on displayed alongside works from 22 other fine art students from Punjab University College of Art and Design (PUCAD) on Tuesday.

Three students presented their work in sculpting, nine students submitted their final thesis in printmaking while the rest showcased paintings.

Mawra’s thesis titled ‘Life as I See It’ takes inspiration from subjective distortion of things and life as a whole. She explained her judgment of things and objects are vividly distorted.

“I see animals in humanly pictures and inanimate objects bursting with life and energy,” she stated in her artist statement.

“Childhood comes back to us time and again and leaves us in a trail of happy thoughts,” said Nageen Naz with her thesis titled ‘Wistfulness’. Her dissertation dealt with the concept of childhood and the memories associated with it. “I often recall and relive those nostalgic moments., they are my secret hideouts since they never fail to keep me company,” she added. Shamsa Kanwal said she took inspiration from routines that stayed with us regardless of how life changed around us.



Her thesis titled ‘Household’ is about daily routines and endless stages of their transformation that have not changed over the years, be it during school or colleges at home or hostels. “Although they are cannot define who I am as a person but they can’t be held at bay either,” Shamsa said.

While, Unab Sumble’s thesis ‘Profound Reflection’ is inspired by the impact human interaction has on people, which may seem insignificant. “Sometimes we have the liberty to choose our friends but other times fate intervenes and no matter how conscious we are about the company we keep or the people we meet, there are always circumstances that leave us longer with people that we had ever imagined being with,” Unab explained.

Azka Anjum’s thesis as a sculpture dealt with the notion of cultural conflict and being raised in a society that had political and cultural invasions.

According to the artist, her work is driven from personal experience of being a modern day Pakistani entrenched in a rising cultural conflict in the country.

Another thesis titled ‘Had-e-Faasil’ presented by Saima Chaudry got its inspiration by gender biases prevalent in the society.

Explaining the thought process, Chaudry said that in a society where there is a constant tug of war between the men and women and regardless of how modern we may have become, the fundamental aspect of our society will never let us change, hence it will always be male dominated.

PUCAD Principal Prof Shahida Manzoor said students’ thesis was a culmination of their dreams, instincts, feelings and thoughts that took a long time to mature but now have finally been expressed through their art work.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5th, 2016.

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