Payam-e-Mashriq: Art inspired by Iqbal’s poetry on display

Paintings feature abstract designs in subtle colours by several artists

ISLAMABAD: The poetry of Allama Iqbal continues to influence people from all walks of life, including artists, to this day. An exhibition inspired by Iqbal’s work of poetry titled ‘Payam-e-Mashriq’, opened at Nomad Art Gallery on Tuesday.

“The exhibition also features imagery by three other artists who have explored different kinds of media ranging from being playful, symbolic and ethereal,” Nageen Hyat, director and curator of the gallery said.

“They made the limits of nature and cultural opposition visible through a process of perpetual shifting between what we see, what we do not see, and what we want to see,” she added. Hyat said, “this particular exhibition reflects a series of expressionistic work by Shireen Geba Najib.”

The paintings, predominantly oil on canvas, featured abstract designs while a particular one that stands out was a landscape of a mountain in different hues of blue and bright sun shining in the background. The artists have used subtle colours and blended them perfectly, giving a much textured look to the art pieces.

Najib, a seasoned artist, started her career with a solo exhibition at PNCA, Islamabad back in 1981. To this day, she has several solo and group exhibitions to her credit.

Currently, her theme of work includes genres like abstract, expressionistic and semi- realistic.

Amna Yaseen, another artist featured in the exhibition, said she had been experimenting with mediums and execution of her work to make it more expressive. “I have been painting manually with infusion of digital in multiple layers. My work is inspired from Kamila Shamsie’s quotation, ‘My history is your playground.’ It includes invasions on the land of Pakistan that I have depicted through text and erosion of architectural sights and history,” she said.

Yaseen further explained that one of her series, the Dai Anga, is based on the imagery she found in a mosque and tomb [Gulabi Bagh]. “It is so sad to see these monuments in a pathetic condition. I have depicted my experience of searching in these monuments through the symbol of a game which is similar in experience,” said Yaseen.

Sana Fatima, one of the artists, believes native language is the indicator of culture and identity. “One connects to culture and history through the mother tongue. Urdu, our mother tongue, is declining due to the impact of other exotic languages. Our identity, our norms, and culture have become ambiguous with time. My art practice revolves around the fading impact of Urdu and its rich literature. I have symbolically used Nuqta taken from the language to create a question,” she said.

Afra Farooq, who has also exhibited her work at Payam-e-Mashriq, said the priority to ‘self-talk’ gives birth to negative feelings that ultimately produce negative thinking. “My work is all about negativity of mind, which I have expressed through symbolic embodiment of sour, bitter, spicy and tangy-taste vegetables, by their visual assimilation with inner and outer shape, structure, and function of brain,” Farooq said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 29^th, 2015.