Art of peace: Bone sculptures to be exhibited at travelling show

Momina presents conflict art to improve understanding of complex issues.

LAHORE:

Artist Momina Muhammad’s three painted bone sculptures from her latest series It Is Still Green on My Land will be exhibited at the Art of Peace, a group travelling show.

The show will take place at Gallery London from September 18 to September 25. It will then move to Colombo, Kabul and Paris. The show takes a three-pronged approach to realise its vision.

Firstly, it showcases conflict art as a profound communicative tool to understand the complex issues of conflict.

Secondly, it influence stakeholders, decision makers, NGOs, the public and art critics and lastly it builds relationships and communities with artists and organisations.

Nearly 250 applications were accepted from 75 countries. After short listing, 12 most thought provoking works were selected for the show. Momina Muhammad is one of them.

The other 11 artists represented in the show are Bakary Diallo from Mali, Fritz Best from Syria, Furatal Jamil from Iraq, Heba Amin from Egypt, Lorena Wolffer from Mexico, Margo Harkin from Northern Ireland, Regula Gattiker from Colombia, San Zaw Htway from Myanmar, Maya Ramsay-Global, Tania El Khoury from Syria and O Shamsia Hassani from Afghanistan.

“My work at the travelling show talks about my vision… to help shape and inspire through visual art how people and organisations understand, engage and respond to conflicts,” Muhammad told The Express Tribune. “My motive is to highlight hope rather than highlighting negativity.”

She said the nature of her medium bones was lifeless, still and sterile but colourful strokes of brush added movement to it because the viewer’s eye moved around it.

“I used the pure Mughal miniature technique on bone, which is traditionally done on wasli by a handmade squirrel hair brush using gouache paint prepared in seashells. So my medium is gouache on bone.”

Born in 1990, Muhammad obtained her BFA degree from the National College of Arts. She has also studied oil-painting, print-making, sculpture and photography with art history as the major subject.

Her work has been exhibited at Qasr Garden Museum, Tehran; Barbara Frigerio Gallery, Italy; Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore; My Art World Gallery, Islamabad; VM Art Gallery, Karachi, and Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 24^th, 2014.