Pakistan arrests 33 for attacking Christians over Quran desecration allegations

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani artist Ahmer Farooq, a self-taught maestro whose work has been exhibited in exhibitions in the UAE, USA, UK and Europe, has developed a unique Urdu script in his latest collection to tell the stories of Pakistan's diverse socio-cultural landscape. and shine a light on its many marginalized communities.

Globally, Pakistani contemporary art has been widely recognized for two movements: truck art and neo-miniature art. Kaleidoscopic murals of flowers, Islamic motifs, calligraphy, snow-capped Himalayan peaks, local mosques and popular figures are renowned examples of Pakistani truck art. Over time, this art form has expanded beyond trucks and streets, and can now be seen on everything from shoes to teapots, with contemporary artists like Haider Ali, born and raised in Karachi, exhibiting their distinctive style of truck art in museums and exhibitions around the world.

Similarly, neo-miniature art was championed by Shahzia Sikander and Imran Qureshi, a new generation of Pakistani artists who transformed the historical miniature painting of the Mughal courts into a contemporary art form. Recently, a painting by Pakistani figurative artist Salman Toor sold for a record $1.2 million and his work is now part of the permanent collection at Tate Modern, one of Australia's premier museums. modern and contemporary art in the world.

Over the past two decades, Pakistan's art community has also fostered a vital culture of public art through the advent of local biennials, including the Lahore Biennale, established in 2018, and the Karachi Biennale, which held its first edition in 2017.

Against this backdrop, Farooq, a former commerce graduate based in Lahore, took it upon himself to share the stories that he believes are often silenced by conservative Pakistani society. From the voices of religious minorities to the transgender community to large swathes of the population facing poverty, Farooq's brushstrokes capture “the essence of resilience and defiance against all odds.”

“Ahmer's work looks very, when you see it, these vibrant, bold paintings, but they are very, very deep,” said Noshi Qadir, curator of the artist's latest exhibition at Tanzara Gallery of Islamabad, organized in collaboration with the Norwegian Embassy. .

“The way he navigates the topography of the canvas, depicting the sufferings, triumphs and emotions of humans and their identity. So it's very deep, it provokes a lot of thought.

This time, Farooq's work takes a special turn: as the secret keeper of Pakistan's marginalized, as he likes to describe himself, and to keep discreet about their very private triumphs and tribulations, he has developed a unique script in Urdu , the national language of Pakistan.

“When you look at the canvas, you see that the information or the text is not really readable,” Farooq said, pointing to large, stylized calligraphic alphabets on his colorful canvases.

“And that's done deliberately because for example, when you look at an individual like a person here, standing here, you would just see one person, but you wouldn't really know their story or what they're going through. This information is private information.

The use of a new secret language is because his latest collection was entirely dedicated to the “stories of marginalized communities” from Pakistan, the artist said:

“And marginalized communities can be anyone, they can be marginalized religious communities, they can be people from the transgender community. They might be people like you and me, who don't fit a certain standard that society tells us to follow.

“ARCHIPELAGO OF THE SELF”

Per Albert Ilsas, the Norwegian ambassador to Pakistan who inaugurated the collection titled Archipelago of the Self, said Farooq's “captivating” work explored “the complex interplay between personal and societal forces, expertly navigating the multiform nature of the Self.

An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, group or collection of islands, or sometimes a sea containing a small number of scattered islands.

“Farooq’s art highlights the fragmented realities of marginalized individuals, depicting the negotiation of public, private and secret selves. Farooq, the emotional burden borne by those living on the margins – women, religious, ethnic and other minorities – is palpable.”

The ambassador said each brushstroke spoke to the “anxiety and emotional upheaval inherent in navigating a world where a person's identity is constantly scrutinized and judged.”

Ahmer described the Self as a set of archipelagos, or a “dispersion of isolated islands amidst the ceaseless bonds of societal currents” and said his latest collection was an invitation to allow “courage, resilience and hope of building bridges that reconnect all our islands.” .”

Zainab Shuja, an art student from Rawalpindi visiting Farooq's exhibition, reflected on the importance of discovering contemporary Pakistani art:

“We don't see a lot of contemporary art because we're currently trained (in the classical tradition), and it's always good to get out and experience what contemporary Pakistani art looks like. And we see all these influences here, and it's really refreshing to see.

Jonathan Andre of the Swiss Embassy in Islamabad praised Farooq's art for its authenticity, emphasizing the power of art to transcend boundaries and foster understanding.

“I think his art is very particular, very special, very authentic, very original,” he said. “And it’s great to see such an art scene in Pakistan, a mixture of culture and art and it translates very well in the artwork.”