Birds in Far Pavilions

Dearest Nusra Latif Qureshi,

This is a loud shout-out for my girl to celebrate the first monograph show featuring thirty years of interdisciplinary practice, Birds in Far Pavilions, at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. You can well understand my excitement over this marvelous achievement. After all, I have been knowingly or unknowingly your acquaintance in this quest that encompasses all aspects of existence for a South Asian brown, middle-class, female artist. I have always been convinced that in our context, art was a commodity only to be enjoyed and practised by Macaulay's gori mem sahbs, Indian in blood and British in manner. Thank you for shattering this myth once and for all. In Benazir's expression it would go as 'Creativity' is the best revenge.

Creativity is finding new solutions to problems or new methods of performing a task or reaching a goal. The problem was the imposed aesthetics and borrowed ideas of modernity. The goal was to cast off Western ideologies and to explore Indigenous foundations with the intention to take them along on the contemporary global platforms. Uncle Sam's cousin, aunt Virginia, told us that neo-miniaturist could do that but then the very etymology of the word 'miniature' was problematic. Others proposed the title of 'Indo-Persian' which is geographical discrimination and open racism. I endorse you calling it musawari. What a compact word; encompassing ideas of sketching, illustrating, representing along with fashioning and creating all in one go i.e. catering to tangible and intangible ideals together. I mean, it beautifully covers the ethos of Eastern aesthetics. Please, don't rush to remind me that I too am making cardinal divisions. Let us continue with this dichotomy, East and West unless we come up with more appropriate ways of suggesting religious and cultural differences or acknowledging intellectual diversity as the ultimate beauty and truth about humanity.

Another beautiful word that marries the physical and ethereal is khyal. To some extent it furnishes the thinking process as an essential, inseparable feature of any notion; a pleasant combination of noun and verb together which befits the paradigms of conceptual art. Talking of khyal reminds me of Jens Haaning's empty canvasses that he submitted at Kunsten Museum Denmark as commissioned work for thousands of dollars. When taken to court he pleaded not-guilty as the entire composition in real colours and forms was present in his mind if not on canvass. Has the Museum commissioned him to provide physical evidence of his creative expertise? The contract letter is silent here. Quddus Sb once admitted doing the same in Delhi for a curated group show, putting his name tag and article number next to the empty designated space. I knew he was ahead of his times. I shall write to him too.

I once again quote the African saying: "Until the lion learns to write, every story will glorify the hunter". Birds in Far Pavilions narrates the other half of the story of Indian colonisation. The lioness in you highlights what was missing, left out, thrown away or pushed under the carpet for over two centuries. Utilising the British perception of India recorded in terms of photographic documentation of their time or museum collections you confront the West in the language they understand; deconstruct the narrative and reconstruct it until it aptly reflects the proposed reality. Manipulating the existing visual imagery from Indian musawari, you tweak and tweet it to compose politically relevant chronicles that challenge popular histories. The forms - figural and non-figural - make abrupt appearances in more contemporary scenarios. These incongruent emergences volunteer to coerce alternative realities. I also enjoy your sticking to the familiar iconography and the core elements of Indian musawari; dynamic lines and minute details balancing the flatly painted areas, layering, painstaking rendering, playful handling of space, eccentric perspectives, feisty compositions, fiery colour palette and last but not the least ruthless truth presented in somewhat ornated layouts.

Congratulations once again and more later on this 'aesthetic justice' at several levels.

Bano

Nov, 24