Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan
Posted on: January 23, 2023 | 
| 中文
Tetris Naama by Hafsa Jamshed
Dominion Gallery located inside The Colony on Gurumangat Road, Lahore is now celebrating its second anniversary since its inaugural showcasing back in January 2021. Over the last two years, Dominion Gallery has presented solo presentations by prominent artists such as Rakhshanda Atawar and Suleman Khilji along with a host of exciting group exhibitions. Their second anniversary exhibition is titled “Onwards & Upwards”, curated by Bibi H. Arbab, which includes artworks by Adeen Habib, Hoor Imad Sherpao, Mahoor Jamal, Rahat Niazi, Umaina Khan and Hafsa Jamshed Sufi. The exhibition celebrates the immediacy of colour, as a spectrum of vivid hues welcomes visitors into the space. Colour here is instrumental in conveying the intensity of associations derived from psychological and interpersonal experiences, referencing the artist's unique perceptions of social dynamics, female experience and memory.
Mina by Mahoor Jamal
Dominion Gallery has challenged its viewers, inviting them to explore the modern and unapologetic commentary of younger artists that are keen to disrupt and evolve past the traditional conventions of practising art. Their unique observations on contemporary art and ability to build their own visual language, carry hints of traditional miniature and oil painting. In the hypnotic ceramic tile collage pieces of Hafsa Jamshed Sufi, the artist deliberately intersects and blends together imagery from a wide variety of regions, philosophies and time periods creating a labyrinth of interpretations. In “Trick or Treat?”, the iconic fox is an emblem of wealth, independence and many more characteristics defined differently by people all over the world. Here it is adorning a poised tie and collar, with a blazer full of miniatures taken that can read as European, Persian, or of the occult. Sufi triggers the imagination of her viewers by leaving a shiny lollipop in her protagonist's hand, creating a fun and intriguing portrait of the fox.
Is that my reflection (Diptych) by Umaina Khan
The female experience holds within itself a myriad of visual directions, emotive motifs and under-represented personal histories that are being reclaimed by artists such as Hoor Imad Sherpao. Over the years, Sherpao has pushed the boundaries of miniature painting by choosing her female protagonists to be modern, confrontational and mystical in their representation. The women in her paintings exude confidence and fearlessness that has carried into sculpture as seen in “یو”. Translation: refers to the number 1 in Pashto, pronounced as “Yo”. The dress of the white porcelain doll is engulfed in red flames, rising as they become motifs of embroidery. The gold jewelry here is emphasized, travelling into the accompanying headpiece that carries a watercolour painting of a tree. The combination of sculpture and miniature here is striking, and creates a sense of aliveness resonating with the same ferociousness of the neighbouring painting titled “اور ”. Translation: refers to a fire in Pashto, pronounced as “Oar/Ore”.
اور by Hoor Imad Sherpao
Mahoor Jamal has expressed her sense of aesthetics through successful fashion photography campaigns, capturing old world charm and reinventing vintage as bold and youthful. She has created a massive following on social media for her uniqueness in representing the essence of femininity, and the power of the female community. Her practice is explorative of various mediums predominantly capturing powerful portraits of females. In the painting “Shama”, the recurring motif of the heart is centrally placed in the frame, leaving open an archway with a female holding together her hands in front of her face. The revealing henna hands over the face and large roses spread across the clothes become the only indicators that perhaps a festive occasion is being celebrated. The heart makes another appearance in “Dilruba”, embellished with hand-embroidered motifs with a full-length portrait of a female. The vibrant red and pink hues of the clothing create a backdrop for the eye-catching gold detailing. Jamal’s practice commemorates the act of creating, wearing and stitching festive clothing as the colour and detailing are kept in the foreground of her paintings.
Shama by Mahoor Jamal
Umaina Khan uses colour and linework as a gestural medium to convey complex observations in her diptych, “Is that my reflection?” The two totems seem unidentical next to each other, creating an analogy for how perhaps we are unrecognisable to ourselves when perceived through the eyes of the other, which here would be the viewer. Similarly, Adeen Habib creates a series of scenarios depicting a group gathering, her visual analogy projects the superficial, unforgiving and powerful impact that social projections have on the psyche of the self through the abstraction of colour and drawing. In her diptych painting, “The Never-Ending Soiree: Stairway To Hell”, the looming chandelier towers over a faceless group of people pushing against the text, “We Belong”. The desperation and pressures of sociability are exposed in the series, “Crowded Rooms Till The End Of Doom”, where fuchsia pink and gold paint push against the figures, compressing them together.
The Never-Ending Soiree Stairway To Hell (Diptych) by Adeen Habib
Rahat Niazi writes a descriptive poem in her artist statement, her process of creating comes from deeply experiencing her environment and personal psychology. The relationship between the material world and the inner emotional state is paramount for the artist, when creating her highly abstract sculptural paintings. In “Dripped”, “Sprinkles” and “Candlewick”, the microscopic attention is given to the ephemera of her surroundings amplified through her selection of psychedelic colour and mark-making. The show will continue till 29 January 2023.
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