ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN YOULIN MAGAZINE
The intersections of history for Maaria Waseem and Waseem Ahmed take visual manifestations in their latest duo exhibition “The Other Side of Silence”, hosted by Dar Al-Anda Art Gallery in Amman, Jordan. The ancient histories nestled in the region are being visually investigated by the artists in the form of collaborative works, combining Maaria’s photography and Waseem’s miniature painting. The merging of their art practices is a reflective conversation between the two as they explore, travel and collect layers of historical, cultural and political discourse. The images are a striking amalgamation of the heritage motifs seen in abandoned ruins of the old forgotten era, echoing the realms of kings, conquerors and mythological stories.
Waseem belongs to the South, whereas Maaria hails from the North of Pakistan. Their academic careers began at the National College of Arts, continuing explorations together as art travelers and as a family. On these journeys, Maaria has documented extensively and circled back those images into their combined art practice. Waseem’s miniature painting practice blends traditional classical brushwork with contemporary compositions of image making. The spatial observations, regional contextualization and in-depth research into various territories led to the culmination of a collaborative series showcased at the Sannat Art Gallery in Karachi in November 2021. That exhibition marked the initiation of their unique overlap of photography and miniature works. Maaria’s detailed chronological research into architectural sites continues to inspire hundreds of people online to seek out and explore historical destinations themselves. Waseem’s miniature paintings examine the origins and psychology of identity, and together the artists reveal the overlooked aspects of colonial demarcation that carry the generational ramifications still experienced in the present.
The horizon line dividing the sky and the landscapes can be traced throughout their body of work, with the compositions anchored into the structures and topography of the region. Maaria captures the familiarity of sprawling urbanisation around ancient historical monuments, the overgrown foliage around a forgotten stupa and clouds casting down thick shadows on the vastness of mountains in her photographs. Each moment is distinctly characteristic of the stillness found in sunsets, large bodies of water, and mountain ranges against the clutter brought in by modern city life. These experiences of traversing the past through the present time lens have become part of Maaria’s photography, translating her emotional resonance towards history. In recreating these historical visitations to ancient ruins outside Pakistan, she uses the same method of distillation to understand the impact of history. This is a continuation of her investigation of ancestral origins, colonialism, community, and multiculturalism.
Waseem and Maaria’s works hold together elements of abstraction where geometrical shapes and frames contain outlines of tableaus pairing classical painting references with miniature renderings and motifs. The line is charged and active in dividing various subjects, reinforcing their interest in structures, buildings and architecture. The painterly splashes of blue against the courtyards and facade of fossilised ancient buildings create a push-and-pull illusion for the viewer. The colour disrupts the lights and shadows cast on the building at the golden hour. This painterly intervention on the surface of the photograph by Waseem immediately transports the viewer into a metaphysical experience. The reflective thought processing and experiencing time are deliberately brought to the foreground of the picture plane.
The symbolism of Mughal era miniatures is over-imposed on a weathered stone wall, the rose here is paired with its imagined shadow, evoking a sense of aliveness. The whitening rose hanging from the worn-down niche covered in ancient language, becomes a stage for the artists as they highlight the aged stone glowing with reflected sunlight and scattered painted rose petals. The act of dramatising architecture and landscape through these painterly interventions creates an emotional staging of history for the viewer that is exhilarating to explore as an immersive experience, while stepping into the reality created by the artists.
Themes of demarcation are a shared interest for both artists, as the running horizon soon starts to take the form of a river bend, these topographical mappings of the region are abstracted using ornate gold leaf, silver lead and iconographies of water from Mughal art. The act of remapping the past, using contemporary painting techniques shifts the focus of the viewer from a regional to a global lens on the formation of a cultural identity. The photographic compositions of Maaria engage with zoomed-in details, or establish wide panoramic scapes that open up the canvas for Waseem. Painting and illustrative interjections of Herculean giants, Tibetan iconographies, drawings of animals, tents hanging over open water, eyes and drapery, Greek statues, hand prints, the elusive heads of Afghan burqas peeking over the mountains, and objects with three-dimensionality are paired with the empty desolation captured in the photographs.
Each of these works carries the weight of the past while quietly observing the present. Among the chaotic presence of these illustrative elements, there is a monumental photographic silence that is gazing at the scene along with the viewer. The artists are keenly aware of the gradual evolution of cultural identities over the generations of political conflicts and negotiations, the nuances in the formation of identity and the distortions in collective histories across the global south.
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