While presenting the works of Pakistani artists in New Delhi, most participants were surprised to hear about Colin David, just like everyone seems shocked at the presence of a journalist by the name of Cyril Almeida in our midst. I had never thought the name would evoke such a reaction. For us, his students at NCA and his colleagues and contemporaries, Colin David was from amongst us, actually better, because not many were endowed with his facility to observe and to render the human figure -- nudes in most cases.
Yet, for the Indians, a Christian painter as part of the mainstream of Pakistani art was unthinkable. This is in line with the common perception of Pakistan -- an orthodox Muslim state that discriminates against its religious minorities.
The fact is that many religious minorities (including Baha’is, Jews, Parsis, Christians, Ahmadis) have migrated to non-Muslim countries, where they are living freely, comfortably and peacefully. The discrimination here also has a class element attached. A wealthy person belonging to the minority has less chance of being victimised.
Yet, there are fields of life like politics and sports which are privileged and glamorous to an extent but not so fortunate. For instance, J. Salik (that incredible performance artist of our country who does not know about his art but forges works of avant-garde nature which could ensure him prestigious prizes in a biennale, like imprisoning himself in a huge cage!) once during a protest in front of Punjab provincial assembly tied himself to a large cross. The police inspector handling the mob reportedly ordered his men ‘to take down the sweeper’. Then there was Shahbaz Bhatti, the federal minister, who was killed by gunmen for speaking against the country’s blasphemy laws.
In contrast, the world of art, film, fashion and music does not recognise religious differences. Here, one comes across a leading fashion designer who lives in Karachi and happens to be a Hindu, a Parsi painter who has rendered the movement of Pakistan, migration of 1947 and verses of Iqbal, a Hindu calligrapher who paints Islamic script inspired by Jamil Naqsh, and many singers, actors and models. Their presence is considered so normal that one hardly notices the names betraying their religious identity like Colin David.
In the world of visual arts, there are a number of artists practicing and exhibiting such as Irfan Augustine Javed, Mohan Das, Fakeero, Rajkumar, Veera Rustomji, Karen David, Karen Frank and Julius John Alam. It is interesting and heartening that in the realm of art, there is no discrimination and no any mention of one’s religious background (perhaps one’s sexual leaning is a more relevant and juicy detail).
For artists belonging to a religious minority, there are two options: they can follow the example of Colin David and Jimmy Engineer who represented a marginal community, yet their works were not about that identity. In the art of Colin David, his being a Christian was just an extraneous detail which did not concern/affect what he created. David mostly painted female figures -- in clothes and out of them -- but his sense of composition, painterly precision and minimal approach in portraying his subject distinguished him from his contemporaries (though he did paint a few remarkable crucifixion paintings). Jimmy Engineer’s large-scale canvases with scenes of mass migration during partition are meaningful as testimony of our painful past.
Like these two, a number of young artists are busy producing works that outside of their religious identity or their engagement with their community or faith. Anushka Rustomji in her Degree Show at NCA displayed paintings based on Parsi themes and iconography but, by and large, reference to religion has been absent in the works of our artists who happen to be non-Muslims.
Being part of the mainstream also allows them the security of being invisible and a safer code of existence where they are not recognised on the basis of their religious ‘oddities’. Thus, a number of artists practicing today are not dealing with or disclosing their religion. A situation which was prevalent prior to the blasphemy law and deaths connected with it. In the 1960s, 70s and 80s, being a non-Muslim was a position that hardly mattered when it came to art circles. Artists were conscious of their ‘unusual’ names but they were not aware of their ‘differences’. They were a part of society like any other Deobandi, Shiite, Sunni, Braveli sect.
The people at large also accepted them as artists without any religious baggage. But in the post 9/11 altered world, religious differentiation has become synonymous with discrimination and has become the norm. Now it is not enough being an artist from a religious minority, living in Pakistan and involved in painting still-lifes, landscapes, female figures and calligraphy. It is not uncommon to see in art the plight of people who are subject to communal violence and mass terror, like what is seen in some works by Julius John Alam who talks about these atrocities.
Still, one is unable to decide on the best course of action chosen by the artists belonging to minorities: amalgamation as practised by Colin David, Jimmy Engineer and several others or confrontation and questioning as seen lately in the art of Julius John Alam. Alam is perhaps the only painter to take up the situation of minorities in art, which in a way reflects the state of majority as both are so interconnected and irreplaceable.