ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YOULIN MAGAZINE
Written by: Nayha Jehangir Khan Posted on: August 24, 2021 | | 中文
Fragments of Home - Radio Stereo and Fragments of Home - Smoothing Iron
The visual language of ceramics shaped the way ancient civilizations crafted their daily lives. Utensils played a central role in facilitating ceremonious aspects of social, economic and political activities throughout the ages. Fossilized vessels are celebrated as symbols of our heritage by institutions such as the Mohatta Palace, Lok Virsa, PNCA & Lahore Museum. The collection of historical motifs and designs are collected as artefacts from the Indus Valley Civilization, Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Kot Diji, Mehr Garh and the northern traditions of the Gandhara Civilization. The centuries of influence combined with the cultural renaissance of the Mughal period, have strengthened our associations with ceramic art.
Contemporary Pakistani ceramics artists include Salahuddin Mian, Scherazade Alam, Masood Kohari, artist duo Talat and Dabir, Kaif Ghaznavi, Munawar Ali Syed, Sadia Salim, Shahid Waheed Khan, Raania Durrani, Shazia Mirza and Shazia Zuberi. Ceramics has evolved into a multidimensional practice that takes traditional techniques, molds them with expression rooted in personal experiences, identity and a shared history. Contemporary artists have reclaimed ceramics as their own, shedding the burden of ancient history, making the process experimental and explorative.
To Whom It May Concern- miniature houses in circular formation
Zahoor ul Akhlaq Gallery located in the National College of Arts, hosted the exhibition ''To Whom It May Concern” by the artist Javaria Ahmad. Ahmad playfully crafts illusions of scale, taking the iconic silhouette of a suburban house and compressing it into a miniature model. The installation pieces titled “To Whom It May Concern” are a three-part series made with Terracotta and Stoneware. The cookie-cutter outline of the house is purposefully repeated with alterations of texture, line work and color. The variety of treatments used to create a neighborhood of homes are placed in a circular formation with an incredibly tiny house at the center.
“To Whom It May Concern (b)” has hand-illustrated drawings on a collection of similar white saucers that are hanging in a straight line on the wall. Creating a backdrop to the installation is a neatly shaped circle filled with broken red cups. The use of the color red here creates a focal point for the viewer.
Broken red cups
The part (c) of the series has a miniature replica model forcing us to view the same objects from an even greater distance. The gallery space starts to feel enormous, pushing against the circle formations and the miniature houses. The drawings have menacing crows, perhaps hanging outside the home staring at the viewer through the tiny circle frames of the saucers. We are drawn into each plate, focusing on the aggressive ink line work and the changing expressions of the crows.
We enter the reality of Ahmed’s objects through the installation “Conversations”, which is a series of coffee mugs with hand-painted drawings, depicting scenes of affectionate interior space. We begin to feel the emotional quality in the boundaries of these objects. The curves of the coffee cup and the corners of Ahmed’s house start to reveal a story of struggle, frustration, aggressions and a range of nuances relating to navigating domesticity.
Conversations - hand painted coffee mugs
The imagery Ahmed creates for the teacups implies nostalgia for a sweet and playful childhood, with animated furniture, clothing and birds. Each cup can be seen independently, but also as a panoramic mural constantly changing with our own perspective. Using stoneware as a reel of frames, creates scenes and memories that feel personal and familiar.
Ahmed said in her statement, “Working with media that conceptually scaffold my work and speaks of femininity was a natural and intuitive process. I deliberately used this very idea of what I call the materials of delicacy - clay, fabric, thread, and safety pins. All these materials signify a frail bonding that compliments the fragile nature of my works.”
Miniature clay houses
The series “Little by Little, Day by Day” uses Terracotta sheets with 6 unique drawing compositions that appear to be ghostly impressions created with delicate line work. Embossed objects begin to appear on the surface as we closely examine each piece. The “Fragments of Home” is a two-part sculptural diptych shaped like a bulky old-fashioned radio stereo and smoothing iron. The layering of these objects is deliberately exaggerated with pockets and niches nestling tiny models of birds and flowers. The burned treatment of the surface feels earthy, even though these objects are made from steel and iron. Ahmed is challenging the viewer to see beyond the machine, altering their understanding of materiality from physical to emotional.
The exhibition is curated by Salima Hashmi who said in her curatorial note, “the master narrative of Pakistani art has had very little space for three-dimensional expression whether sculpture or the artisanal crafts. It is only in the last three decades that such practices have claimed the critical reviews and audiences they deserved. Javaria Ahmad’s ability to embark on diverse storytelling journeys bodes well for her place in an evolving canon.” It is indeed refreshing to see female Pakistani artists like Javaria Ahmad step beyond conventional art forms.
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