Modern landscapes: Bringing street protests into the drawing room

Munir uses photography, embroidery and text to represent the urban lanscape.

LAHORE:

Fatima Munir’s solo exhibition, The Art of Painting, opened at Taseer Art Gallery on Monday. It will continue till March 14.

She has displayed nine modern day landscapes made using digital prints on archival paper and embroidery on partially bleached fabric.

Munir told The Express Tribune that her work had been largely text based. “It has spoken, sung, questioned and negotiated my life in Karachi and Pakistan...and at the same time distinguished my idea of space.”

She says she has tried to bring street protests to home or inside personal space, giving a face to drawing room chatter.

Quddus Mirza, an art critic, said, “I think Munir’s work mostly deals with the situation in Karachi or in other cities...with the atmosphere of uncertainty, insecurity and danger that hovers around us.” He said that the pieces fell in the genre of photography and suggested a hint of documentary too.

“In a subtle way it records our reactions to what is taking place in our surroundings.”

By using text with subtle meanings and subdued messages, Munir presents the essence of urban landscape in an effective and intelligent way, Mirza said.

Sanam Taseer, owner and curator of Taseer Art Gallery, said, “Munir’s work sings of the resilience of human spirit and cities in the face of unrelenting violence. Her works gives the message that there is still hope and unity.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2014.