The instrumental tribute

Music and visual art make a rare appearance together at Alhamra Art Gallery.

LAHORE: After being displayed at Islamabad’s National Art Gallery for six days, Silent Decibels: The Art of Music, a collection of 47 miniature paintings, will be displayed at the Alhamra Art Gallery today.

Sana Kazi Khan and Amna Ismail Pataudi’s works will be inaugurated with live instrumental music performances. The artists have painted different musical instruments in their bodies of work, both of which are based on research conducted by Zafar Ibrahim of the Crispus Industries, USA.

Sana Kazi Khan is a National College of Arts graduate. She has painted peace activists, singers and musicians like Bob Marley, John Lennon, Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Arif Lohar, Gangubai Hangol, Mehdi Hassan and Salamat Ali “to pay tribute to their work and convey the message of peace”.

Khan said, “My paintings, which focus on shared identities, are more of installations than paintings.” Explaining one in which she has highlighted the daff, Khan said, “The seven folds of a circle are associated with the seven heavens, planets, days and other combinations such as seven metals and colours etc. The daff symbolises the timeless whole and the moving point represents the passing of time.” Another of Kazi’s paintings highlights the banjo, which was invented by African slaves.

Amna Pataudi, said about the exhibition, “It is a tribute to the instrument. Usually the instrument is not highlighted but the player of the instrument is. In my paintings, the instrument is the subject.”

Khan and Pataudi both said that they had learnt a lot about history and different cultures while working on this set of paintings. Khan has 23 pieces on display while Pataudi has contributed 24 paintings.

The exhibition will be inaugurated at 5:30 pm on Wednesday (today). Touqeer A Nasir, the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) director general will give the opening address. Other speakers include Shahnawaz Zaidi and Sarwat Ali who will talk about music and the displayed work. The one-hour performances will include Dawn to Dusk, Peacock, Aaj Rang Hai, Salsa, Piya Nahin Aye and City Lights. In addition vocalists Imran Khwaja and Aliya Rasheed will also perform solos. The exhibition is the result of collaboration between the PNCA and Music Museum, Crispus Industries, USA. PNCA will also launch a coffee table book, 47 Paintings, which is a detailed catalogue of the paintings included in the exhibition.

The collection of paintings is set to be exhibited in Karachi next.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 10^th, 2010.