Another perspective: India’s first e-photography magazine dedicates 11th issue to Pakistan

Surge: The Pakistan Issue shows a different face of the country

KARACHI: India's first e-photography venture PIX has dedicated its 11th issue to Pakistan. Surge: The Pakistan Issue was launched at VM Art Gallery on Saturday.

"The spirit of PIX lies in promoting the artists of South Asia and neighbouring countries," said Dr Manuel Negwer, the director of Goethe Institut Karachi, at the opening of the exhibition. "I recognise Pakistan in these pictures. They form a wonderful panorama of the rich ethnic diversity of the country."

In a panel discussion moderated by Tanvi Mishra and Akshay Mahajan, members of the team that puts the quarterly magazine together, the speakers discussed the photography scene in Pakistan and the pictures published in Surge. "This is a cutting-edge issue," claimed photographer and contributor Arif Mahmood. "It depicts the people, the beauty and the contemporary art scene within Pakistan."

Meanwhile Durriya Kazi, the chairperson of Karachi University's visual studies department, said that Pakistanis should stop thinking about what others say about them. "We should focus on understanding each other instead of on how we are seen by the rest of the world."

Insiya Syed, a photographer and adviser for the issue, pointed out that many of the photographers working for foreign agencies and taking pictures within Pakistan did not actually belong to the region. "PIX is exciting because it features the work of photographers who belong to the area they are photographing," she said.

"These images are a step apart from what we see in mainstream coverage by photographers doing particular assignments," Syed added, gesturing towards 'The Plight of the Hazara People' in which Asef Ali Mohammad had captured the sports history of the Hazara and a theme park in Kalam, Swat.

'Not A Bug Splat', a video of an anti-drone campaign launched in March 2014 in which a 90 by 60-feet portrait of a girl had been spread facing up in a field in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, raised questions about art installations in Pakistan.

According to Kazi, the campaign showed that art and politics could occupy the same domain in the country. "People are mindful of what will be accepted," she explained. "It is more about self-censorship than any censorship imposed by the state."

The highlights of the display were Amber Hammad's picture of Mona Lisa grasping a bottle of Coca Cola and a cigarette butt, Aun Raza's 'Lahore Mental Asylum' and Sana Khan's 'Hours of Separation'.

The exhibition, which also features the work of Francois Daireaux, Asad Hayee, Malcolm Hutcheson, Mariam Ibraaz, Tooraj Khamenehzadeh, Naiza Khan, Edwin Koo, Saptarshi Sanyal and Marylise Vigneau, will continue till January 31.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 20^th, 2015.