New Arrangements: Photographers, painters under one roof

Exhibits show rural women’s courage, personal spaces.

LAHORE:

An exhibition bringing five artists from different mediums under one roof opened at the Drawing Room Gallery on Tuesday.

Works by three photographers and two painters have been displayed at the exhibition titled New Arrangements, all of which have strong colours and messages.

Travel photographer Umair Ghani’s four digital prints, “showing  society’s strong contempt for women in Pakistan” are priced at Rs30,000 each.

Ghani said, “Despite the contempt against women, one sees them veiled in colourful fabrics and walking freely throughout the country, no matter how conservative the place is.”

He said he had tried to show women in conservative attire, yet unrestrained and full of confidence.

His 22 inch by 23 inch picture showing a woman guised in a Cholistani outfit outside Sachal Sarmast’s shrine in Sindh was liked most. For most visitors, it showed the courage of rural women.

One of his pictures shows a girl in a bright blue shalwar kameez offering an ice-cream to a burka-clad woman. Another picture shows a girl with face veiled in blue chiffon walking down a street and talking on her mobile phone.

“I have tried to showcase the truth through my pictures. The conservatism is sometimes subsided by what is practical,” Ghani said.

Nine paintings by Abdullah Qureshi, 25, are on display. For most pieces, Qureshi has splashed the canvas and pictures of personal spaces and trips with wall paint. They are priced between Rs20,000 and Rs450,000.

In one, Qureshi has splattered white and gray enamels on a photocopy of a picture of his apartment in London.

Qureshi, who is also the curator of Calorie 39K in Model Town, said, “I like using multiple personal references and creating an independent atmosphere with paint.”

He said he liked adding textures and lighting up his personal pictures. He said he was inspired by abstract art of th e1950s.

21-year-old Rabbania Sharjeel’s pictures include close-ups of teenagers bathing in the BRB Canal in Lahore and a farmer loading his bicycle with freshly cut cattle fodder.

Currently studying photography at the National College of Business Administration and Economics (NCBA&E), Sharjeel’s work is priced between Rs18,000 and Rs30,000.

Artist Rabbia Asif has showcased a poster of wasli miniatures inspired by textile designs.

Talking to The Express Tribune, she said she had sought inspiration from geometric patterns.

“I have modified some and some are as I saw them on quilts and local pottery,” she said.

Asif, a textile design teachers at NCBA&E, hopes to sell the work and has priced it under Rs25,000.

The exhibition will continue till October 10.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2012.