LAHORE - The Undergrad Degree Show 2016 kicked off at National College of Arts yesterday, promising the young artists to showcase their talent and bring along the very desire to communicate using multiple mediums and variety of ideas.

Special assistant to Prime minister on political Affairs Dr Asif Kirmani inaugurated the degree show and appreciated the artworks of the students during his visit. Students of Studio elective, Architecture, Design, Film and TV, Fine Arts and Musicology showcased their work.

Works created in the form of paintings, miniature paintings, prints, sculptures, installations, video installations and drawings reassert the notion of art without boundaries or restrictions was showcased. The work, produced by 43 students from the Department of Fine Arts this year, confirms the fact that the endeavour of art making is a passage from personal to public; journey from the solitude of studio to the open arena of art world. The Department believes and practices in holding a meaningful discourse with general public, so the art, in place of being exclusive or reclusive activity assumes the position and prestige of being a shared experience.Some of the prominent features and concerns in the works of our graduating students range from urban to rural, and from body to gender. One comes across experiments with material investigation, and issues such as identity, faith and politics. Works dealing with urban condition, perception of human anatomy, presence of pain, changing face of nature, and different narrative possibilities are part of this year’s display.A

long with this, a major component of the degree show is examining the act of art making, by extending the views, notions and possibilities of genres.

Work of art in its essence is a conversation: with other human beings, surroundings, times but more than that, it is a dialogue between the maker and his/her material, medium, imagery and ideas. A creative person initiates with unknown and after completing his/her work, arrives at a stage that still lies at the threshold of mystery; open for innumerable interpretations.

In a sense, it is the audience, viewer or spectator who puts the last layer on the art piece, since his/her understanding makes the work relevant, and adds a new content with each new contact. The show will continue till Feb 3, 2017, from 10am to 6pm.