Islamabad : The former ambassador of Spain Manuel Duran and physicist Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy inaugurated ‘Uphot’ here at Gallery6 on Friday.
The exhibition is the outcome of the first-ever Art Mentoring Programme (AMP) launched in Pakistan by Studio RM in Lahore and Gallery 6 Islamabad, with Ercelawn Art Fund as the sponsor.
The AMP was launched on the request of Aly Alp Ercelawn, a prominent economist, educationist, rights activist, art supporter, and philanthropist, who wanted to establish a huge fund to promote art and artists, especially female artists in Pakistan. It was initiated by Gallery 6 in collaboration with Studio RM during the lifetime of Ercelawn, who unfortunately died of post-operative complications before completion of the first AMP.
The first two-month AMP began on November 1 and ended on December 31; its aim was to counsel young artists who have a noticeable talent and a degree in visual arts and are looking for guidance to develop their artistic careers. The first AMP had five artists Aimen Batool, Javaid Iqbal Mughal, and Maham Nadeem from Lahore, Muhammad Habib Akram from Gujrat, and Qasim Bugti from Quetta.
Discussing her work, Aimen stated, “My work is about growth and absurdity and how these both are related in context with our current socio-political environment. We think of beauty and reformation when we think of growth, but it can also be deformed, absurd and doesn’t always make sense. It’s different for everyone. We tend to make safe spaces for ourselves, literally and metaphorically, which then become our comfort zones and breaking free of them isn't always easy. These spaces I've created in my work are also a way to escape the norms of today's society, as I navigate the self, through them.”
Javaid keeps on experimenting, which brings variety in his works. Figurative art is his key motivator and the inspiration of creativity comes to him from the culture of the surroundings. He enjoys the city culture and the diversity of people and get influenced by it. The subjects are drawn from his personal experiences, and the incidents or happenings around him. Javaid said, after attending AMP, he is trying to study new perspectives of human interactions, portraiture and explore new ways to capture their identity.
Maham Nadeem said “The mind is a complex bundle of thoughts and emotions. To understand it better, I paint what confuses me in hopes of making sense of life. Life makes no sense, yet we spend our entire life trying to make sense of it. It makes no sense; it's nonsense. Just give the feeling a name. Label it, turn it into a character. Laugh at it. Befriend it. Embrace it.”
Talking about AMP, Habib Akram said “My thinking process travelled beyond paints and brush and I found myself experimenting and expressing with embroidery on canvas. During the process I found some buttons in my box and with them came the Eureka moment. The buttons were round in small circles, each had its own energy, as if a nucleus in itself. As I started stitching them together in a bigger circle, I felt sensations as if may nuclei are circulating with a bigger nucleus—the universe, with no beginning and no end.”
Qasim’s intricate works are mystical. Talking about these, he said “Mystics are in search of the truth and I am very much influenced by mysticism. When we step into the realm of love and romance, words and language lose their significance. What cannot be expressed in words can only be understood in silence. Just like that, art is free from the bondage of language and space.”
All the five artists have presented their work in distinctly different ways. They also appreciated the mentoring provided by lead mentor RM Naeem and others which included Romaisa Khan, Quddus Mirza, Sana Arjumand, Ali Kazim, Saulat Ajmal, Ayaz Jokhia and Afshar Malik. They had all praises for Gallery 6 and Ali Ercelawn who thought of nurturing the talented emerging artists and also provided financial support.