LAHORE - An exhibition of paintings titled ‘Unmaking History’ by a group of artists using various mediums opened at Research and Publication Center.
The artists taking part in the show are Abeera Kamran &SumayaKassim, AmnaSuheyl, AnushkhaRustomji, Ayesha Jatoi, Emaan Mahmud, Farazeh Syed, Farida Batool, Fazal Rizvi, Fiza Khatri, MadyhaLeghari, Malcolm Hutcheson, Natasha Jozi, Noor Saeed, Saba Khan, ShahanaRajani& Zahra Malkani, VeeraRustomji and Zoya Siddiqui.
The show is independently curated by SaherSohail, Natasha Malik and Laila Rahman, who are themselves practicing artists and educators.
The Director of the Research and Publication Center, Rashed Rahman, recognising the absence of spaces where art can address critical issues, donated the space for this exhibition.
‘Unmaking History’ examines the power structures and hierarchies that have constructed our collective pasts, and works toward unraveling the hegemonic narratives which have led up to this critical intersection in our historical trajectory.
AmnaSuheyl created a time-lapse of sorts by positioning her work into a chapter like sequence where the narration moves from the immediate point of displacement and chaos to a subliminal indication of change and the chapter after of how life continues to persevere.
In doing so, Suheyl’s take on retelling, remembering and reimagining history is a comment on how stories and incidents become important, or the contrary, with time and a lingering question as to which iteration of history is accurate, the macrocosmic event that shifted the course of many lives or the microcosmic change that is felt rather than tangibly witnessed – and who is to say which part of history is stronger.
Using satire, Emaan Mahmud’s work’s focus lies on the consumption and production of contemporary art in the context of various social and psychological power structures with a concentration on patriarchy and neoliberalism, while also looking at how the visual and conceptual output of art and its consumption is affected by these intangible yet influential structures.
Farazeh Syed’s work deconstructs stereotypical aesthetic and socio-cultural notions about woman/the female body. Women have historically been ‘imagined’, objectified, and stereotyped in art: the woman is present but always as a symbolic metaphor for sensuality/eroticism and passivity and the narrative is always that of the dominant male. Such imagery serves to represent, and in fact, reinforce gender-based power ideologies.
The exhibition will remain open to the public till 12th November.