Documenting evolving trend of integrating security features into architecture

The Canvas Gallery is hosting an art exhibition featuring works by Seema Nusrat, while the Koel Gallery is hosting an art exhibition featuring works by Arif Hussain Khokhar. ‘Studies In Integrated Facades’ will run at the Canvas Gallery until May 18, while ‘Adopted Ruins’ will run at the Koel Gallery until May 24.

“Our environment has become increasingly unpredictable in recent years, forcing people to take personal security into their own hands,” reads Seema’s statement in the catalogue released by the Canvas Gallery for the exhibition.

“While we have limited control over our environment, we still want our homes to be shielded from the uncertainty and chaos of the outside world. To create a sense of protection, home owners have chosen to install features such as grills, barriers, barbed wire, CCTV [cameras], and even bastions.

“Today the facade of an urban dwelling represents these calculated choices. These security features were seen as intrusive and overwhelming at the beginning. However, over time they have become an essential part of the structures, blending into the design and giving birth to a new language.”

Seema has been documenting the evolving trend of integrating security features into public and residential architecture. Her study of integrated facades focuses on home facades, exploring them with a new palette.

Her work transpires from the energy found in the urban metropolis. It includes sculptures, drawings and collages that indicate her capacity to understand the most unusual materials, which are incorporated in her oeuvre.

Her current research references the culture of fortification in Karachi, whereby buildings are secured and protected from potential disruptions and violence. Her work uses this visual representation to consider the increasing politicisation of architecture of our cities in volatile times.

She lives and works in Karachi. Her exhibitions include ‘Brave New World’ at the Canvas Gallery (2020), ‘Proposals Towards a New Architecture’ at the Gandhara Art Gallery (2017), ‘New Urban Landscapes’ at the Koel Gallery (2017), and the inaugural at the Lahore Biennale (2018).

Her shows also include ‘Gateway: Structures of Meaning | Architectures of Perception’ at the Abu Dhabi Art Fair (2018), and ‘Young Sub-continent Project’ at the Serendipity Arts Festival, Goa (2018).

She attended the following residencies: Pioneer Art Residency, Khushab (2018), JSW, Abhisaran Saarc Artist Residency, Vijayanagar (2014), 4th Fukuoka Asian Art Triennial, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum (2009), and Gasworks Residency, London (2008).

Adopted Ruins Khokhar is a graduate of Lahore’s National College of Arts. He completed his BFA in painting in 2007 and his MA Hons. in visual art in 2017.

He received the Best Young Artist award thrice at the annual art exhibition of Lahore’s Alhamra Arts Council: at the 5th (‘Refreshed’, 2009), the 6th (‘News Item’, 2010) and the 7th (‘Red Hot’, 2011).

He has exhibited at the Islamabad Art Festival (IAF-19), and curated shows for Spaces at the Studio7 Art Gallery, Karachi (2018), and at the Chawkandi Art Gallery (2016). Some of his notable shows include his solo exhibition ‘Remnants’ at the Koel Gallery, ‘Constructive Residue’ at the Koel Gallery (2018), ‘Between the Lines’ at the Chawkandi Art Gallery and ‘Line Makes You See the Drawing’ at the Nomad Art Gallery, Islamabad.

His group shows include ‘Touma Time Regained, Visions From Our Own World’, a collaboration curated by Mohamed Keita and the Koel Gallery (2020), and the Islamabad Art Festival (2019).

They also include ‘Within Without’ at the Koel Gallery (2012), ‘Cascading Lines’ at the Rohtas2 Art Gallery, Lahore (2011), ‘Untitled’ at the Drawing Room / Taseer Art Gallery, Lahore (2010), and ‘Grey Matters’, curated by Quddus Mirza, at the Zulfi Art Gallery, Lahore (2018).

His works also include ‘Fattah Je Assey Passey’, a Green Cardamom Project, at the VM Art Gallery and the Sindh Museum, Hyderabad (2010), ‘Sindh Reverberating Sounds Echo Through the Desert’ at Koel Gallery (2014), and ‘Mein’ at the Koel Gallery (2011).

— Photos courtesy Canvas Gallery and Koel Gallery