For Pakistani-American Tehreema Mitha, this started in the form of classical dance when her mother, the famed Indu Mitha started training her from the tender age of seven in Bharatanatyam. However, unbeknownst to most, she had completed her higher education in fine arts.
Having already told her story through dance in the country, she is now returning with another medium, paintings.
Her maiden exhibition, titled “Quilting Stories of War and Peace”, will open at Gallery 6 on Thursday, November 9.
The inspiration for her latest series of work comes from the long tradition of patch-work quilts — rilli — which has become symbolic of the country. The women did not just use patches of different colours but also used different prints with many colours creating a fascinating blend.
Mitha follows on from this, using mixed media which is layered to achieve colours and detail. Hence, at a glance, they seem like the colour patches thrown together randomly, but closer inspection allows one to observe the intricate patterns hidden deep within the colours.
This delicate latticework is combined with a variety of exotic birds as she tries to highlight the beauty of long-held traditions from her native land while embracing the diversity of her new surroundings. Thus, in her work, she creates a new universe in which her past and present come together to create a narrative in each painting which always seems to contain an entire story.
“I am from the storytelling culture of South Asia where our classical dance is imbued with stories through which we present deeper thoughts, ancient religious philosophies are taught through mythologies, Sufi’s spread their wisdom through poetry and parables,” explains Mitha while detailing the intricacies and depths carefully hidden in her work.
“This series of watercolours reflect some of that tradition. I want the viewer to look at my work and imagine what is happening, what happened before that moment and then inspire them to make the story of their own,” added the National College of Arts Lahore alumni while talking about her series “The Story Within”.
Mitha had also secured a Bachelors of Arts (BA) in Philosophy and English Literature from Kinnaird College as she completed her Masters in Arts from NCA.
“In each painting there is a sense of mystery, something not quite of this earth, something sensed rather than defined,” she explained, adding, “Each story caught in a somewhat rounded form where there is no real beginning or end, encapsulated in this moment forever; yet you can take it out of there in your mind and travel through time with it”.
Talking more specifically about her “This is What War Does” series, she explained that even though she lives far from the country, having immigrated to the US in 1997, stories from home had deeply impacted her.
“This is what war does,” Mitha said, adding that around the time she had immigrated, Pakistan was suffering, both economically and culturally, from the war in Afghanistan.
But with conflicts spreading around the world, the resultant human misery has been heart-wrenching, and Mitha says she has found the emotions inescapable and felt compelled to find an expression for that dreadful cycle of violence and it’s consequences other than through dance.
That is evident in how she conspicuously avoids any direct symbol of violence rather relying on the mesh of colours. With dance her primary profession, having opened a school in the US in 2001, the form makes its way into her art as well, be it in a direct form such as a curious self portrait, to the way she adds contours which resemble human movements in Bharatanatyam — lending a natural flow to her paintings.
Gallery 6 Curator Dr Arjumand Faisel said she was pleased to introduce Mitha — the painter — to Pakistan and hoped that she will take her paintings to different cities of her native homeland.
“They are likely to be more understood here as they are based on the culture of this region,” Dr Faisel said, adding that this is Mitha’s first exhibition, not only in Islamabad, but also in Pakistan and has paintings from three series, including ‘Quilting’, ‘The Story Within’, and ‘This is What War Does’ — meaning there are three exhibitions in one.
The exhibition will open on Thursday, November 9 and will until November 16.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 9th, 2017.
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