Time and space: Photography magazine launches Pakistan issue

PIX seeks to present photography in temporal, spatial or historical terms.

LAHORE: PIX, an Indian photography quarterly, launched a special issue on Pakistan titled Surge at the Nairang Art Gallery on Monday.

The event was attended by Rahaab Allana, the editor; Nandita Jaishankar, an editorial member; and Tanvi Mishra and Akshay Mahajan, photo-editorial members.

PIX was founded in November 2010. It is supported by the Goethe Institut. Each issue is based on a theme. In its 11 issues so far, 3 have been special issues. The first on Sri Lanka, was titled Metamorphosis. Another, on Iran, was titled The Interior. Their next issue will be on Afghanistan.

The PIX team describes its objectives as a magazine as investigating and engaging with broad and expansive fields of contemporary photographic practice, ranging from the application, conceptual standing and adaptability of photography to its subjects.

PIX, the title of the quarterly, is a premise for how photography has revealed the world in tangible as well as incongruous terms.

The quarterly seeks to present photography in temporal, spatial or historical terms. The issue, Surge, explores the evolving relationship between art-practice and documentary tropes as they are taking shape in Pakistan.

An emphasis on personal space and gender and an exploration of private archives are presented within the context of motivations and working practices. The broader concerns highlighted include: what constitutes the physical geography of photography today? How are images from Pakistan embedded in various social, cultural, and historical conditions?

The launch was followed by a panel discussion titled Photography: Emerging Practices in Pakistan with Salima Hashmi, Amber Hammad and Quddus Mirza. The talk was followed by a photo-presentation by Malcolm Hutcheson.

The advisories for this special issue were Pakistani artists, Salima Hashmi, Insiya Syed and Arif Mahmood.

Hammad, a visual artist who completed her masters in arts and design studies in 2012 from Beaconhouse National University (BNU), made it to the cover of the magazine.

“Photographic art and the related genres are still finding their way in South East Asia. For aspiring artists and the masses there is much more to know and learn in this field. Since very little is written and published about it, PIX is doing a great job by producing a quarterly magazine,” she said. “The PIX team is very enthusiastic and motivated. My experience with them was delightful,” she said.

“In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were multidimensional political and religious encounters between Asia and Europe.

My interest in history is in another context. My focus is on the self. My works combine history of art with the contemporary social-culture environment of urban Pakistan.

I take already existing images from the art world and appropriate them by using my own image as the protagonist.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 15^th, 2015.