Written by: Nimra Khan
Posted on: February 21, 2019 | 
| 中文
Badshahnama, series XLVII (Edition of 3) by Imran Channa
The Shahnameh, or “Book of Kings,” a long epic poem of about 50,000 couplets, written by the Persian poet, Hakim Abolghasem Ferdowsi, is revered as a cultural and literary masterpiece that defines Iranian cultural identity. The poem is integral in reinstating the importance of the Persian language at a time when it was being hybridized, allowing it to be seen as a language of sophistication and beauty. The book chronicles the vast history of Iran, from the beginning of mankind till the Arabic conquest in the 7th century A.D, presented through a mythological, heroic and historical age. It combines stories of fantastical feats and triumphs with a level of historical accuracy, illustrated against the Persian cultural landscape.
A recent show at Sanat Gallery curated by Majid Abbasi Farahani, an artist and curator of the Iranian Contemporary Art Biennale, takes the Shahnameh as a site for cultural interaction and exchange between two countries united by a shared border. The show is the first chapter of “Shahnameh: Common Borders,” a project that will bring together works by Pakistani and Iranian artists across two shows in Pakistan, which will then jointly travel to Iran.
Imran Channa views the Shahnameh through his signature historical lens and draws connections with the Badshahnama, an illustrated history of the Mughal period, specifically the reign of Shah Jehan. Channa’s practice revolves around the study of archives, which he has been interested in since childhood. In his ongoing Badshahnama series, these characters and images are picked out of history and re-contextualized through their visual presentation - resized, rearranged and recomposed, in a way critiquing the authenticity of historical record as objective truth, allowing us to look at it as a subjective view of actual events. The Badshahnama here becomes a familiar ground through which the rich history and culture of the neighboring counterpart can also be critically analyzed. The scattered, cut out images in classic Mughal miniature style seem to deconstruct history, appearing almost as chaotic bursts that isolate image from composition.
Somewhat similarly, Khalil Chishtee draws from the South Asian experience of colonialism in order to relate to the Shahnameh. According to him, his work is his own version of Shahnameh, narrating an epic historical account of conflict and conquest in the context of the subcontinent. In “A Page from my Book of Kings I and II”, we see what appears to be the life size metal silhouette of a British soldier next to that of a Mughal emperor, both rendered in calligraphic script seemingly facing each other in open conflict. Chishtee’s view of Indo-Pak history seems a bleak one, where one regime overthrows another, advancing personal agendas without care for the land and the people they rule.
Noor Ali Chagani, on the other hand, brings a modern iteration of the Shahnameh and creates an epic visual account of contemporary society through his signature miniature brick walls and construction pillars. Rather than mythical tales of heroes and kings fighting battles and overthrowing regimes, through these walls we see stories of everyday life. These images and texts become signifiers of social, political and cultural experience in a Pakistani city, and in a way also become preserved as representations of our time, historical accounts for future generations.
Ruby Chishti views the Shahnameh through a feminist lens, pointing out the male dominated, exclusionary narrative of such historical and cultural documents where women are all but absent. This observation is given further credence considering the fact that Chishti is one of only two females included in the current show, out of a total of 10 artists. Her work thus creates an alternative narrative where women are provided with a voice. In many ways her work becomes the antithesis of documents like the Shahnameh. Constructed out of scraps of female sacred ceremonial clothing, these visuals are disarming, the soft rounded bodies not stuff of legends but straight out of the pages of everyday life, telling epic tales of nurturing rather than destruction. These feminine narratives of peace and unity are rescued from erasure and given a space to flourish against the violent ‘conditioned masculinity’ propagated by history.
Tazeen Qayyum conceptualizes the socio-political, religious and cultural commonalities across borders through common elements in language. Rather than content, her work focuses on the structure of poetry and the metrical rhythm of the verses, interpreting them in visual form. Taking words that exist in both Persian and Urdu and repeating them in a circular formation, the artist pays homage to the epic poem’s message as well as its technical wonder, while also remaining sensitive to the common socio-political experiences that unite the two nations. The resulting works with their miniature script rendered in white on a field of black in concentric circles becomes almost meditative, reminiscent of circular movements observed in acts of spiritual devotion.
Works by Muhammad Zeeshan, Sajjad Ahmed, Muhammad Atif Khan, Adeel Uz Zafar and Abid Aslam expand upon similar themes in their unique styles, and through an exploration of a common heritage, language, literature, history and culture, the artists are able to reflect on their own identity while also recognizing common ground. The show becomes an important and valuable exercise in understanding the self through the other, with art and creative expression emerging as a central force in diminishing the borders that separate us.
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