“The pencils are planted in the ground under this tent in a manner similar to a green house. Protecting and allowing education to spread is the idea behind the work,” says Atawar.
LAHORE:
Pencils immersed in earth and canopied under a plastic sheet are placed at the entrance of 39K Art Gallery. Artist Waheed Latif’s installation is meant to showcase the “sheltering educational growth in Pakistan.” Many educational initiatives are undertaken, but few are effectively taken forward,” 39K Art Gallery Director Rakshanda Atawar elaborated.
“The pencils are planted in the ground under this tent in a manner similar to a green house. Protecting and allowing education to spread is the idea behind the work,” she added.
The installation is part of works by 16 artists – photographers, painters, students, teachers and doctors – producing art follwing discussions held at the gallery between February 4 and February 24.
Gallery owner Abdullah Qureshi said the photograph of the Hagia Sophia’s entrance taken by Irfan Ahmad Khan was put up on the gallery’s Facebook page and artists had signed up for discussion around the concept of a door.
Students from Lahore College for Women University, National College of Business Administration, Hazara University in Mansehra, Hunar Kada joined and discussed their ideas with one another.
Maryam Babar’s piece involved 36 frames in a spiral which resulted in “an interactive installation designed to produce an illusion.”
Babar, a lecturer at the School of Design and Visual Arts at the Lahore College University for Women, said the piece captivated viewers upon entering the room.
Hazara University student Madiha Mehreen had three pieces on display.
“Town” was a small wooden structure with several doors. Mehreen has also encased a bird cage in a plastic sheet, leaving a small exit. Nails driven in a wooden slab barred entrance into a passage. “Not all doors should be entered,” said Mehreen.
Artist Khaleequr Rehman, also a urologist, had two installations and a drawing on display.
Rehman, who has apprenticed with artists Colin David and Khalid Iqbal and has worked with stone carvers at the Lahore Fort, displayed a small door carved out of marble with stone inlay work.
“Both jali (lattice) and stone inlay are very popular in historical Islamic architecture but no one has combined the two,” said Rehman, who had used the semi-precious lapis lazuli stone. The Chinese-ink on paper drawing comprised of a stone, half carved into a face, and looking through the frame of a door.
The artist added that he liked showing the process of sculpting in his paintings.
Photographer Umair Ghani had three digital prints on display. A manipulated picture of the door to the Moti Masjid in the Lahore Fort is also the homepage for his website. Ghani said you entered his site by clicking the door, which he called the door of forgiveness.
“The door represents the present for me. It is an entrance from the past to the future,” he said. Negative prints showing a child rubbing nose, looking through a glass window were placed next to a coloured picture.
Rakshanda Atawar had painted a mixed media picture onto a wall depicting three figures. One of the figures was stepping through a door.
The exhibit runs till March 4. Not all pieces are for sale. The pieces for sale are priced between Rs5,000 and Rs60,000.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 27th, 2013.
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