LAHORE:
“People take their photos and upload them on social networks to create new identities for themselves without realising that they might not match with their actual personalities,” Amber Hammad said, whose four artworks, all self portraits, are displayed at Rohtas 2 since May 12.
“The way people take their pictures and upload them on these networking websites really fascinates me.
A person’s identity cannot be formed in isolation and socialising is required for that. These social networking sites are serving this cause,” she added.
She said she chose this specific theme to highlight the use of social networking by people to create their identities that she said might not be real.
A smidgen of sarcasm and a stroke of travesty are evident in Hammad’s works.
She refers to her work as the ‘perception of things she has about people and issues in the society.’
Three displays are digital prints on paper called Art Must Be Beautiful, Artist Must Be Beautiful and Up Load. The forth is an installation called Let the History Download.
Let the History Download is a compilation of some 200 personal photographs. Pages from textbooks on photography serve as the background of each photograph in the collage. The mirror beneath the collage is supposed to shows the ‘virtual reality.’
Salima Hashmi, commenting on Art Must be Beautiful, said that the artist had tried to satire the idea of art and clichés about art and culture. Hashmi appreciated the artist’s use of the mirror, calling it a reflection of reality.
Naheed Malika, a visitor, appreciated the artist’s sarcastic approach about creating identities.
“It’s amazing how in today’s era of technology the meanings of beauty and identity have changed and so has the medium to express these ideas,” she added.
Hammad has a degree in painting from the National College of Arts in 2002, and is currently an arts student at the Beaconhouse National University. She has also received the Shakir Ali Award for her work displayed internationally in Bangladesh, Nepal and India so far.
The show will continue till May 21.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 20th, 2011.
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