On display: Pakistani, Dutch artists find the right medium

Artists from both countries spent two weeks together to exchange ideas

The International Artist Residency 2016, being held as a two-week programme at the ZairaZaka Studio Residencies since November 8, concluded in the federal capital.

Participating resident artists included RM Naeem, Muhammad Atif Khan and Zaira Ahmad Zaka from Pakistan as well as Gea Karhof and Nan Mulder of the Netherlands.

All artists were living in a residence connected to the studio, which was accessible round the clock. They worked in the printmaking medium and exchanged ideas of their practices.

Gea Karhof’s work occupies a unique place in the world of printmaking. The artist attended the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, after which she developed a highly personal technique of etching.  Karhof travels regularly to cultures far away, where she continues to find inspiration for her work, her bio road.

Nan Mulder studied painting and printmaking at the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam and the Art College of Kraków, Poland. She later taught printmaking at Edinburgh College of Art and Dun Laoghaire School of Art and Design in Dublin. The artist also gave mezzotint classes at international art colleges and print workshops.

Zaira Ahmad graduated from the National College of Arts and majored in printmaking. She has exhibited extensively across Pakistan, UAE, Nepal, Malaysia, Thailand, U.K, China and North America. She dedicated her efforts towards art education since graduating in 1999.



The ZairaZaka Studio Residencies programme was established in 2013 by Zaira to promote the medium of printmaking. In 2013, 2014 and 2016, three successful residency programmes were held and included artists from Nepal, UK, Netherlands and Pakistan. Their work was ultimately displayed through exhibitions in Islamabad.

The “open day” of the programme was inaugurated by internationally-acclaimed artists Imran Qureshi and Aisha Khalid. The ambassadors of Austria and the Netherlands graced the occasion, along with other prominent figures from the art world.

Students of different universities took the opportunity to mingle with eminent artists from the Netherlands and Pakistan. Open day was followed by a display of the work these artists produced while working together.

The residency show is travelling to Lahore for another exhibition .

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