Photography personalised: artists show their experiences and how life influences art

The exhibition features each of the artists sharing deeply intimate scenarios with the viewer.

ISLAMABAD:

For many, photography is a straight-forward medium. Where a replica of a particular scenario is created and perhaps enhanced for effect. While schools of straight-shoot photography prefer not to fiddle with the original content, diversified artists today prefer to leave impressions of their own handiwork on their photographs.

Five photographers – Ilona Yusuf, Lali Khalid, Fazal Rizvi, Bakr Hussain, and Azanat Mansoor – are showcasing their unique imprints on their works at the “Transient Glimpses” being exhibited at Satrang Gallery.

The exhibition, which continues till November 20, features each of the artists sharing deeply intimate scenarios with the viewer.

However, this generosity is restricted to the particular moment that the artist has captured. It is frozen in time and immortalised, the before and after of that scene are unknown, yet the conversation that the artist has begun continues indefinitely.

The pieces in this exhibition distort the lines between photography and printmaking, as the artists examine their unique construction and distinctiveness. “Through the intricacies of texture, the rhythm of light, and dimensionality of layering, these artists have managed to compose elaborate odes to the past,” said Zahra Khan, curator of Satrang Gallery.

The first piece to draw the attention of the viewer is Ilona’s renderings of Makli Hill, a world heritage site in Thatta that is home to one of the largest ancient necropolises in the world.

“One of my interests has been the effects of weathering. As a printmaker and writer, these prints are the beginning of a series,” she said at the exhibit.

Moving on to more personalised shots, Fazal Rizvi plays with old family photos by meshing them with information he is now privy to. The text in his work conveys intimate messages that are memories of his personal life.

A footprint in the mud in Bakr Hussain’s piece, or Azanat Manzoor’s depiction of a family clutching a television set, invokes a sense of familiarity.

Mansoor creates photo transfers, combining photography and printmaking. Experimenting by overlaying transfers of prints and replacing portions of her subjects faces with contrasting images.

Bakr Hussain uses his work to explore man’s presence on land and the lasting impression one can leave, such as a forgotten old rag in the dirt, or a solitary individual sleeping on a pavement. Hussain also chooses to print his work on canvas, thus extending the lastability of his pieces.

Lali Khalid on the other hand gives the viewer access to her own home, where the subject makes eye contact with the viewer.

“My photographs are a form of pointing. The settings court a range of intimacy. I have lain on that bed, I have watched the way the light fell across that shirt. These are images of how the world looked with me in it,” explained Khalid.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2012.