Khujwa recollected: In autobiographical essays, art historian paints a life’s picture
In our search for belonging, we tend to slavishly copy western culture.
KARACHI:
When the daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb fell seriously ill and the court hakims gave up, the ruler said that if Syed ladies of impeccable birth and virtue prayed for her he would reward them suitably. As a result, Bibi Wadi and her 14 sisters offered to pray for the princess and she was healed.
Out of gratitude, the emperor gave them the land on which Khujwa village was built in the early 18th century. This is how the family of art historian Dr Akbar Naqvi came to acquire 500 acres to build their village.
This story is now part of Dr Naqvi’s book ‘Khujwa Recollected: Autobiographical Essays’ that was launched at Unicorn Gallery on Sunday. “My ancestors travelled all over the Middle East and finally headed towards Sindh,” said Naqvi. “Some of them went ahead and settled in north India while the others remained in Sindh.” This book is about their stories but the basic motivation was for him to find himself.
While talking to The Express Tribune about why he became an art historian, Dr Naqvi said that although he had a flair for art and did pursue it, he felt that he wanted to understand and study art instead. He felt that contemporary artists today just imitated art from the West. “In art, influence is a good thing if practised in the correct way.
However imitating art is just unacceptable,” he said. “We have forgotten our enlightened culture and are seeking and borrowing enlightenment from abroad, particularly the United States of America.”
He said that nobody from the West could write on our art or culture because they would not have the same perspective. To explain his point a little further, Dr Naqvi gave the example of Sufism - which is often mistaken as spiritualism. “The link that used to grow stronger from generation to generation has broken and we are now forced to borrow a value system from the West,” he said.
One thousand copies have been published and they are available at the gallery, which is the sole distributor. It is priced at Rs500.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2011.
When the daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb fell seriously ill and the court hakims gave up, the ruler said that if Syed ladies of impeccable birth and virtue prayed for her he would reward them suitably. As a result, Bibi Wadi and her 14 sisters offered to pray for the princess and she was healed.
Out of gratitude, the emperor gave them the land on which Khujwa village was built in the early 18th century. This is how the family of art historian Dr Akbar Naqvi came to acquire 500 acres to build their village.
This story is now part of Dr Naqvi’s book ‘Khujwa Recollected: Autobiographical Essays’ that was launched at Unicorn Gallery on Sunday. “My ancestors travelled all over the Middle East and finally headed towards Sindh,” said Naqvi. “Some of them went ahead and settled in north India while the others remained in Sindh.” This book is about their stories but the basic motivation was for him to find himself.
While talking to The Express Tribune about why he became an art historian, Dr Naqvi said that although he had a flair for art and did pursue it, he felt that he wanted to understand and study art instead. He felt that contemporary artists today just imitated art from the West. “In art, influence is a good thing if practised in the correct way.
However imitating art is just unacceptable,” he said. “We have forgotten our enlightened culture and are seeking and borrowing enlightenment from abroad, particularly the United States of America.”
He said that nobody from the West could write on our art or culture because they would not have the same perspective. To explain his point a little further, Dr Naqvi gave the example of Sufism - which is often mistaken as spiritualism. “The link that used to grow stronger from generation to generation has broken and we are now forced to borrow a value system from the West,” he said.
One thousand copies have been published and they are available at the gallery, which is the sole distributor. It is priced at Rs500.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 11th, 2011.