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    Art Review: Perceptions - The Illusions of Identity - Irfan Gul Dahri at O Art Space, Lahore

    Written by: Khadijah Rehman
    Posted on: January 01, 2019 | | 中文

    Constant Companion by Irfan Gul Dahri

    In response to the external world, the resourcefulness of the human imagination knows no bounds. The inquisitiveness of the mind, along with its urgent need to form connections between visuals and ideas, serves the artist well as he makes and remakes his surroundings. While others might merely look, the artist will see. His experience is moulded by who he is and where he has been, and it is through this lens of self that he formulates thoughts and notions of what the world is. In Perceptions, at the O Art Space, visual artist Irfan Gul Dahri exhibited works that traverse his understanding of the world and its beings, particularly the kinship and hybridity of human and animal natures, both as a motif in mythology and as an inherent truth evident in everyday behaviours.

    Hiraeth II by Irfan Gul Dahri

    Hiraeth II by Irfan Gul Dahri

    To the layman, Dahri’s paintings can be described as portraits, but they are in fact fanciful, fantastical tales told through the fusion of animal and human forms. In Fence, the hairless and wrinkled head of a disgruntled Sphynx cat, sits perched on the shoulders of a female body, against an eerie backdrop of hazy grey mountains, while a bald male figure in the background faces away from the viewer, shoulders slumped. A dark fence separates the two figures, creating a dystopian air of dissociation.

    Fence by Irfan Gul Dahri

    Fence by Irfan Gul Dahri

    In Good Girl, a large bird’s head is fused with a human figure, its creviced beak taped shut, a squirrel running down the furry nape of its neck. Dahri’s finesse as a painter is otherworldly - be it the remarkable texture of animal fur, each hair illuminated, or the shadow of a bird resting upon a shoulder, so convincing in its softness and so assuring in its realism that you can hear the flutter of its small wings - the hybrid forms seem to exist in a melancholic, gentle space, one that is hostile and yet oddly hypnotic.

    Good Girl by Irfan Gul Dahri

    Good Girl by Irfan Gul Dahri

    The associations he has devised between the two kinds of beings are enchanting metaphors at times, and at others are direct recreations of the seamless ways animals have become morphed with humans in the acts of existence: a painting endearingly titled Maano portrays a young girl peering out of the dark, her features feline, dark markings around her eyes and whiskers poking out beneath a cat’s nose. The painting is beguiling in its contradiction: the girl who has been lovingly dubbed Maano as per common local tradition, is without any of the playfulness or naivety of a child and instead seems to be trapped within this dark third space, a careworn soft toy barely visible in her arms, her expression almost demonic in the remoteness.

    Maano by Irfan Gul Dahri

    Maano by Irfan Gul Dahri

    Much of what Dahri perceives and translates into his work has to do with the isolation that comes with ideas of identity. In comprehending and discovering one another in different ways or forms, it seems that human beings create myriad versions of one another, all alive in an incorporeal space where imagination meets perception. In creating these anthropomorphised personas in a different, haunting reality, the artist gives image to a profound notion: does one man’s identity depend wholly on another’s perception of it?


    As the new year begins, let us also start anew. I’m delighted to extend, on behalf of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and in my own name, new year’s greeting and sincere wishes to YOULIN magazine’s staff and readers.

    Only in hard times can courage and perseverance be manifested. Only with courage can we live to the fullest. 2020 was an extraordinary year. Confronted by the COVID-19 pandemic, China and Pakistan supported each other and took on the challenge in solidarity. The ironclad China-Pakistan friendship grew stronger as time went by. The China Pakistan Economic Corridor projects advanced steadily in difficult times, become a standard-bearer project of the Belt and Road Initiative in balancing pandemic prevention and project achievement. The handling capacity of the Gwadar Port has continued to rise and Afghanistan transit trade through the port has officially been launched. The Karakoram Highway Phase II upgrade project is fully open to traffic. The Lahore Orange Line project has been put into operation. The construction of Matiari-Lahore HVDC project was fully completed. A batch of green and clean energy projects, such as the Kohala and Azad Pattan hydropower plants have been substantially promoted. Development agreement for the Rashakai SEZ has been signed. The China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future has become closer and closer.

    Reviewing the past and looking to the future, we are confident to write a brilliant new chapter. The year 2021 is the 100th birthday of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Pakistan. The 100-year journey of CPC surges forward with great momentum and China-Pakistan relationship has flourished in the past 70 years. Standing at a new historic point, China is willing to work together with Pakistan to further implement the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, connect the CPEC cooperation with the vision of the “Naya Pakistan”, promote the long-term development of the China-Pakistan All-weather Strategic Cooperative Partnership with love, dedication and commitment. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founding father of Pakistan said, “We are going through fire. The sunshine has yet to come.” Yes, Pakistan’s best days are ahead, China will stand with Pakistan firmly all the way.

    YOULIN magazine is dedicated to promoting cultural exchanges between China and Pakistan and is a window for Pakistani friends to learn about China, especially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It is hoped that with the joint efforts of China and Pakistan, YOULIN can listen more to the voices of readers in China and Pakistan, better play its role as a bridge to promote more effectively people-to-people bond.

    Last but not least, I would like to wish all the staff and readers of YOULIN a warm and prosper year in 2021.

    Nong Rong Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of
    The People’s Republic of China to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan
    January 2021









    Video message by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Black Day of Indian Occupation of Kashmir



    Video message by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Black Day of Indian Occupation of Kashmir, 27 October 1947, when Indian military troops forcibly occupied Kashmir illegally, claiming a fraudulent ‘Instrument of Accession’ which never existed as documented by eminent British historian Alastair Lamb! Kashmir & Palestine are examples of illegal occupation & continued Resistance to Repression! There are so many commonalities in Kashmir & Palestine: both under brutal military occupation of foreign powers, both are facing an indigenous, popular, spontaneous & widespread Resistance & Uprising, both are in violation of UN Resolutions which haven’t been implemented, both are witnessing an attempted change in the demographic balance, both are facing the use of rape as a weapon of war, both are testimony to double-standards & hypocrisy of Western powers on human rights & fundamental rights, and both conflicts have an element of racism and Islamophobia, while enduring peace, security and stability will remain elusive in both regions, South Asia & Middle East, until these issues are resolved in accordance with popular aspirations.