A pop-up exhibition Of Known Fabliaux took place in an uninhabited shop of Liberty in Lahore,
One of the central claims of Western philosophy, presented by Gaston Bachelard in his seminal work The Poetics of Space, is that one needs to be in a secure area in order to dream or be able to have an imagination. The idea of a gallery space fulfills the needs of an artist by providing them with a reliable environment where they can display their ideas and dreams. But not always an artist’s needs are met with justice. More often than not, galleries do tend to prioritize artworks that are commercial, pragmatic, and easier to comprehend by the majority of the audience. The artworks whose conceptual concerns are based on the cognitive perception of their maker mostly do not get to see the limelight. The pop-up exhibition was organized by The Roadside Initiative in an abandoned site in the center of Liberty Market, Lahore, and at a small roadside hotel in Karachi to pay homage to the silent voices buried beneath the remains of wistful wishes. With all the pristine whitewashed gallery spaces present in the city, a reminiscent setting with bare walls and pillars hosted 21 artists from Pakistan and overseas to honor the traditional historical narratives subverted by the autocratic powers.
Each artwork was installed transiently owing to the impermanence of the space which adorned them. Frameless, lightweight papers of drawings were seen pasted on the gray walls which moved by the passing of a visitor. Beside them were large panes of the window with yellow stained glass owing this feature to the lackluster of the whole structure. On the other side of the unmaintained windows, the circumnavigation of the city unfolded
Most of the artworks presented were dedicated to the intangible past and the colonial history of the South Asian region. One such case was found in Risham Syed’s installation in a deserted room which was big enough to be a family lounge of its unknown past residents. Syed meticulously arranged the light emanating from an overhead projected to be cast below the three-paned window with a worn-out wooden frame. The projected stills showed transparent imagery of a dining room belonging to the past century. Beside the ghostly image, a framed pencil drawing of the artist’s mother in the same dining room was placed on the floor while creating pensive parallels of longing and melancholy one feels at vacant places where exuberance once resided. The whole recollection was narrated by a Raga Sughrai played by Syed as a lesson with a classical music professional whereas, on the wall adjacent to the memoirs of the dining table, political figures and heads belonging to the dawn of the Islamization era of Pakistan loomed ahead marking the prohibition and criticism towards any forms of self-expression.
Freedom of self-expression might have found a narrow landing strip in our society but modes and priorities pertaining to intimacy still have interdictions that might not ever be lifted. Such themes of the discourse related to affinity and betrayal were depicted in Anwar Saeed’s paintings. A master at work, Saeed laden his images with darkly painted symbols and totems juxtaposed in the background of his masculine subjects. The symbols could be discerned as either prehistoric or futuristic but not belonging to the known time and space. The figures in the foreground are often shown as participating in metaphoric activities such as having a penchant for alligators and verdant angels pointing arrows at the back of companions in communion. Saeed’s artworks were balanced with iridescent dark blue hues that adorned the empty walls of a forlorn bedroom with closed closets.
Tropes of companionship relevant to spaces of familiarity also run amok in Saad Ahmad’s digital prints. Ahmad’s figures posed amidst the tenebrous territories, alien figures, and dark corners alluding to esoteric conversations among associates. US-based video artist Star Hopper depicts themes of identity and belonging while lauding his ancestral roots through surreal moving imagery.
Cross-cultural and theological concepts were inquired by Amra Khan’s installations. The wooden niches hung on monochromatic walls, contained Islamic iconography, and were arranged in the style of pagan ritual worshipping areas commenting on the religious exchange of the Sub Continental South Asia. The devotional objects used for the installation are utilized in sacred places designated for the pious such as cedarwood and incense burners.
As the medium of visuals becomes banal to examine artistic inquiries, many creators are now deploying language/words as a tool to initiate a dialogue between the artwork and the audience. Rabbya Naseer chose to employ the power of rhetoric to break the silence and raise awareness of the apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and forced deportation occurring simultaneously in various parts of the world. Naseer sent an apologetic letter to the organizing committee and the visitors of the exhibition, elucidating her concerns on the political issues while also commenting on the dichotomies of social media as being one of the most influential as well as most futile instruments of the modern age. She drew parallels between the loss of words with the loss of a loved one without whom one cannot imagine their world.
The traditional white cube has dominated the gallery space as an imperial organization for visual inclusion based on preconceptions and bigotry. Embracing various art cultures and traditions calls for the outset of equal representation of all imaginative merit regardless of ethnicity and race.
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