Art exhibit: ‘No Exit’ at Rohtas

Five NCA Rawalpindi campus graduates put up an ‘interesting’ show.

ISLAMABAD:

A group show of art works by recently graduated five students of the National College of Arts, Rawalpindi campus opened at Rohtas Art Gallery on Friday.

Anuje Farhung, Hifza Sakina, Hira Zubair, Fareeha Nazneen and Mariam Kundi exhibited their latest works under the show title of ‘No Exit’.

Focusing their themes around the periphery of containment, both physical and emotional, the young artists put up an interesting show. Most of the exhibit was primarily constituted of miniature work with Farhung branching out into screen prints on organza mixed media.

Sakina ventured out into a trippy, psychedelic world inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, more popularly known as Alice in Wonderland. “Every exit is an entry somewhere,” said Sakina, adding, “Painting is my key to the secret garden, my way down the rabbit hole, my looking glass.” The artist takes childhood dreams on a trip into virtual reality and along the way exposes some symbolism in her work.

Zubair uses time pieces to create an intricate story of how life is time bound and death is the only exit from this world to the next. “People are suffering in their socio-economic issues, and there is no exit,” she explained.

Kundi’s interesting rendition of freedom as a ticking bomb was minimalistic yet powerful. The girl trapped in a hand grenade or the hands clawing onto a ticking time bombing symbolised the lack of freedom. “I am obliged to will the liberty of others at the same time as my own. I cannot make liberty my aim unless I make that of others equally my aim,” said Kundi.

Farhung’s screen prints hit the right areas but failed to achieve aesthetic appeal matching the other displays. Overall, the show was interesting. The use of vasli and gouche was contemporary and miniature paintings were used to depict mundane ideas with a twist.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2011.