Traces

On Friday, June 14^th, O Art Space hosted a show titled ‘Traces’, which brought together the works of seven artists. This exhibition displayed the works of Abdul Musawir Shabbir, Mohammad Jawad, Muzna Mahmood, Rabbiyah Illyas, Ramshah Imran, Rehmat Ullah and Yaseen Khan, emerging Pakistani artists who are practising in Lahore.

As the budding future of Pakistani Art, these artists have taken up the responsibility of not only keeping their works visually engaging but also open the discussion to a bigger sphere and address the issues lying within our society. From talking about how print media affects the minds of Pakistani citizens and its outcomes, to addressing the taboo and hushed topic of the bizarre reality of religious clergy and how, more often than not, they swindle people into overlooking their impure intentions-the artists have covered a broad spectrum of alarming social issues. Working with an array of mediums, like, photography, dry point, gouache, mirror, chamak patti (just to name a few), they have successfully proven how one’s not limited by material things such as mediums and equipments to materialise their concepts.

Not only this, the show also promotes diversity by being all-inclusive to artists despite their ethnicity or social background. We have a great example of Yaseen Khan being a self-made man, from starting out by helping at a mechanic’s workshop to ultimately following his passion and now exhibiting his artworks at galleries. In addition, Mohammad Jawad, belonging to a minority, proudly represents the Hazara Community and undoubtedly makes them proud through his critical and inquisitive work.

To conclude, I would like to point out how these young artists of Pakistan, with the aide of this show, have undoubtedly proven that they will continue to voice their concerns through their work and create a dialogue to engage the public in the ongoing debate of social welfare and growth.

This show continues until June 24^th, 2019.