From Ayutthaya to Ashgabat: Exhibition of images of Asian cities set to open

Australian High Commission First Secretary Michael Gregory will inaugurate the exhibition

LAHORE:

A solo exhibition featuring 16 etchings by Damon Kowarsky will begin at Color Gallery on Friday.

The Australian High Commission’s First Secretary Michael Gregory will inaugurate the exhibition.  Speaking to The Express Tribune, Kowarsky said the exhibition featured images of Ashgabat, Lahore, Kyoto, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Ayutthaya. He said the cities were separated by geographical distance but united by the love their residents had for nature and green spaces.



Kowarsky said that the number of people living in urban areas had exceeded the number of those in rural areas for the first time in 2008. He said much of this growth was witnessed in metropolitan areas of Asia and Africa. Kowarsky said the population of Lahore had doubled in 12 years and was expected to pass 11 million by 2020.

He said nature had carved a niche for itself in these areas despite rapid modernisation. Kowarsky said roadside plants, parks, gardens and desolate trees were a common sight in Lahore. He said this tradition was steeped in history as Mughal emperor had patronised scores of gardens. Kowarsky said the British had continued this by commissioning projects such as the Lawrence Garden during the Raj.  He said one of his most vivid memories of Lahore was of the fragrance of frangipanis strewn on the streets in the evenings.

Kowarsky studied printmaking at Victorian College of the Arts and the Glasgow School of Art.

He also studied advance figure drawing at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. He has worked as a scientific, courtroom and archaeological illustrator after graduating. Kowarsky taught drawing at the Beaconhouse National University in 2007. He also taught printmaking at Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture in 2010.  Kowarsky has received several international honours and has travelled extensively in South Asia, Europe and the Middle East.

His work is inspired by architecture and colours of nature.  Kowarsky has been collaborating with Kyoko Imazu, a Japanese artist since 2010 on scores of prints, zines and installations.

He also collaborated with Atif Khan, a Pakistani artist, on a collection of 20 etchings that has been exhibited in Lahore, Islamabad, Karachi, Philadelphia and Melbourne.

Kowarsky is currently an artist in residence at the National College of Arts, the Guanlan Original Printmaking Base in China and the Mildura Art Vault in Australia.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2014.