Written by: Varda Nisar
Posted on: April 04, 2018 | 
| 中文
Khadim Ali - Detail of 'Untitled from the Otherness'
The idea of reconciliation is always portrayed as a positive notion; you let go of your differences and continue to co-exist in mutual harmony. But the idea of reconciliation when applied to one’s identity and environment in an artistic paradigm, as seen in the ongoing exhibition at PNCA, is one of critical dialogue and questioning.
The exhibition “Reconciliation,” curated by Alia Bilgrami, has created a platform where the Pakhtun, Baloch and Hazara artists were brought together in an exercise that aims to understand the external and internal shifts that their lives have faced, in relation to global phenomenon. The ten artists that are part of the show have varied practices, but all share a primary thread of considerable upheaval in their lives and region.
Take for example work by Malina Suliman, titled “Beyond the Veil.” Presented via three different components, the purpose of the work is to question the effects of culture, once it has been uprooted from its source and placed in a foreign context. This is achieved through two video installations, which follow performers wearing Afghan burqas in Amsterdam and Kabul, noting how they are perceived in each particular context. The third component again deals with the burqa and combines it with the second component – a two-way audio installation that narrates the wishes of Afghans and Europeans, thus exploring the complexities of their lives. The burqas, hand-made and beautiful, contain these wishes in painted form, but the effort to reconciliation comes into play when these very burqas become a symbol of their own subjugation.
The theme carries through in the works of Khadim Ali, most explicitly in “Untitled from the Otherness.” Coming across as a huge wall-hanging, the work depicts a war scene from the previous era, when you still had to look your enemy in the eyes before erasing him. The colourful tapestry then requires you to take a step back, to be able to decipher the white outlines which present the modern-day kill machines, which have made possible to create distance and thus desensitized us all to the havoc they create. This merging of two war scenarios, executed in contrast, contains a powerful commentary about the changing times and its effects.
This critique continues in Sajid Khan’s work, which are also shaped by a personal narrative. The grey tones of his works are in sharp contrast to the rest of the display, and present the viewer with smoke clouds - a reality Sajid has lived through in his hometown of Palai, Malakand. The only colour one sees is in relation to his past, in the eyes of a heavily turbaned man, whose mind is occupied nonetheless with present-day destruction. The work is a powerful reminder of the uprooting of an entire community, and the trauma they went through.
Ayesha Durrani tries to come to terms with the various standards of beauty that are in place for women to adhere to, in her own way. She takes a stance against the forced ideals, while getting comfortable within her own skin.
Muhammad Atif Khan’s works, with their reassuring presence of a Mughal character involved in a commentary that is both metaphorical and literary, are always a pleasure to see. The placement of the character in situations where the past and the present collide, in a colourful array of miniature prints, forces one to see the humour and the connections that can be built with the past in the spirit of reconciliation.
The works by the father-son duo, Saddam Khan Murad and Murad Khan, complement each other in the use of their colour palette, but the similarity ends there. While Saddam Khan dives into subdued rendering of figures that seem to belong to a time long gone, Murad takes on his subject in a more abstract form.
The show, for this viewer at least, was flawless in its execution. The attention to details, in terms of ensuring that each work creates a dialogue with the main theme, as well as the physical execution of the exhibition, points to the professionalism of the curator. The commitment with which the exhibition has been arranged sets a high bar for all young and upcoming curators in the country. Alia has presented her point of view in no uncertain terms, through works that fit perfectly within the premise of her inquiry. There isn’t a single work that the show could have done without, or that doesn’t do justice to the exploration of this theme.
The exhibition was launched as part of the Cultoor – Pakistan-Afghanistan Pukhtun festival, and remains on display till the 12th of April.
You may also like:
