The two most vibrant strands of Pakistan’s current art scene came under the microscope at a multimedia presentation hosted by the Turkish embassy on Friday.
The innovative yet traditional miniature-based art, mostly originating from the National College of Arts in Lahore, and predominantly Karachi-based desi pop art were the two poles that formed the basis of Fariba Shirazi Thomson’s presentation titled The Art of ‘Extremes’.
Thomson, who is trained in architecture and art history, is the wife of British High Commissioner Adam Thomson.
Her presentation, a combination of an academic text reading and a slideshow of the art discussed in the text, explained the brief history, contextualisation and trends of Pakistan’s visual culture through examples of the two art strands.
She said politics, religion, the effects of globalisation, and gender roles have all impacted the course of recent production and distribution of visual art in Pakistan.
The country’s political atmosphere also favoured some cross narratives in art over others, for example, Mughal miniature art over Gandhara art. The religio-political environment has also made visual art a tool of resistance for some.
She used the works of Imran Qureshi and Rashid Rana as examples of the two extremes on Pakistan’s current artistic landscape, the former representing miniature-based art, and the latter standing for “everyday” art.
“Pakistan is a nation where extremes can combine to form something potent,” she concluded.
The presentation was organised by the Asian Study Group, an Islamabad-based voluntary non-profit organisation with around
250 members. It caters to diverse interests such as arts, cycling and hiking among others.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 8th, 2012.
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