Found in Translation: Of female role models who defy stereotypes

LAHORE:

An exhibition, Found in Translation, showcasing the work of artists Maria Khan and Suleman Aqeel Khilji, started at Taseer Art Gallery on Monday.

Khan’s three paintings, My Elegant Lady, Two Balls of Sadness and Soul Sisters, made using mixed media, are on display at the exhibition that will continue until May 24.

The three paintings by Khilji are made using mixed media on canvas, oil on bronze and acrylic, ink and ballpoint on the Moroccan sheet.

“I started painting these women thinking what their lives are all about. How do they feel about themselves? Are they comfortable in their skin? To what extent can they go to look desirable? These are the questions I want to raise through my work while addressing both perfection and imperfection,” Khan told The Express Tribune. Khan, a National College of Arts (NCA) graduate, said she worked with numerous models.

“I ask them to express to me an idea about the feminine power. These paintings are not about them. These illustrate a theme, a story that I hope to convey. I want to know more about the sisterhood and women finding strength in each other’s company,” she said.

She said she had a “fascination with fat”. “How a body goes out of control and the abnormal shape of a fat body are part of my fascination.”

Khilji said he worked using various mediums and techniques and collaborating drawing, painting, printmaking and digital works.

“My sketchbook drawings lead me to use photography, publicity photographs, and press shots as the basis for painting, and to locate the margin of abstraction and figuration in enlarged visuals,” he said.

Khilji said his basic interest was in the idea of transition. “I focus on the transition in my surroundings, in fortitude of reverence for folklore and interrogation of the past and current social scenario.”

Sanam Taseer, who runs Taseer Art Gallery, said Khan’s work was about strong female role models who did not conform to a stereotype. “It depicts the strength of an average Pakistani woman that is somehow mirrored in her girth and positive outlook.”

She said Khilji’s work analysed what words really meant and prejudices and preconceptions one tends to project on characters.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2014.