Taqi Shaheen tries to unfurl the many layers of the city

The artist’s latest body of work is set to be on display at the Koel Gallery till October 4.

KARACHI:

The city, according to artist Taqi Shaheen, is like an organism - a continuous growing living thing.

“Even though Karachi is a focal point used by many people in art, movies or books,” he said. “There is a lot to the city than meets the eye. There are layers to this city - not just political or religious but many others. It has so much to offer.”

While talking to The Express Tribune at the Koel Gallery where his body of work, ‘Once Upon a Time in Karachi’ is on display, he said that he has worked with the city as his subject before and this time he tried to do something different.

“I had previously done a series on Karachi using photographs,” he said. “This time, for ‘Once Upon a Time in Karachi’, I decided to use satellite images of the city to present the audience with a different perspective of the city.” He added that his fascination with the city started when he moved to Lahore to study at the National College of Arts. It gave him, he claims, the ability to take a step back and observe the city and how it grows.

Shaheen, a visual artist and filmmaker, says his work features mixed media works on paper and video installations. According to the artist, the phrase ‘Once Upon a Time’ refers broadly to the transitions of location and time in today’s urban environment through the themes of urban living, celebration, loss and rootlessness.



Since 2004, Taqi Shaheen has produced over 20 series of works that deal with urban culture and its transformation in multiple ways. Using satellite images and urban data, the exhibition focuses on human response to the living, breathing and pulsating city of Karachi and explores what makes the city come alive, speak and interact with a lively vigour.

While explaining how he works, Shaheen said that there are three phases - developing, conceptualising and translating. Working on a piece, he said, can easily take a week, a month or more.

His paper-based works and video installations also investigate the boundaries of film and visual arts. Given his film and documentary background, he said that he tried to incorporate elements of documentation in his work. An example of this is his piece titled Prince’s Memoirs, a collage on archival paper. The newspaper clipping used by Shaheen is from 1906 when the Prince of Wales was in Karachi, at the end of an extensive tour.



He made a collage of the clipping with satellite images of the city - a mesh between the old and new to show how the city had evolved from a small town to Pakistan’s biggest city.

“This series on Karachi also focuses on the contrast between the urban and rural,” he said. “The piece titled ‘Once Upon a Time in Karachi’, has a different meaning for many people. Some think of the layer as animal hide - it looks like skin but if you look at it closely, you’ll see Malir River flowing right down the middle. Some of the pieces like ‘Her and Seasons of the Sea’ have an, almost, apocalyptic feeling.” He added that this series of his work was like a birds-eye view of Karachi.

The gallery’s curator, Mariam J Kamal agreed with the artist and said that his work did show a different side of the city. “The artist hasn’t used the set approach usually taken by people,” she said. “Most people go for the blood, gore and violence. His overview of Karachi is quite neutral.”

The exhibition is set to go on till October 4.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 25^th, 2014.