As you may perceive it

Ancient treatises from the Indian subcontinent have been far ahead of the western art of miniature painting as the Persian and Pahari styles – two popular schools of paintings – create highly stylised body of work, while defying naturalistic approaches. 

“This series of my work directly references miniature paintings from the Persian and Pahari schools,” said miniature painter Ayesha Jatoi, a visiting faculty member of the National College of Arts, Lahore.

“While continuing my study of the miniature paintings, I have further deconstructed, unravelled the ornamentation, figures, with removing unnecessary details,” she said at her solo show, titled ‘The Observer’. The exhibition will run till September 4. 

Instead of watching too much television, the artist said, her father advised her to read books and listen to radio. “We tend to create images in our mind when we read books or listen to radio programmes that help us nurture our imaginative skills.”

At the exhibition, one of her work displayed a Persian small miniature, diagrammed through a pencil on a white paper, titled ‘European’. She entitled her imagination instead of illustrating or portraying it with colours. To make Persian diagrammed miniature look more beguile in other art works, she used black paper instead of white.

Another cognitive art piece of Jatoi displayed a framed black paper with the following words pencilled on; ‘Lovers Moving Towards The Bedchamber'. 

“I want people to perceive my work through their imaginative vision - as they see it. How they see my work would be defined by the viewer’s own creativity,” the artist said.  One of her artwork displayed observing eyes; the frame portrayed a black wasli paper’s vertical line on a white paper and small piece of black tape horizontally taped on the top on the line with blue pencilled tiny eyes. 

Commenting on Jatoi’s work, the art gallery’s owner, Noorjahan Bilgrami, said: “It is a really beautiful take off, this magnificently done contemporary work is an adaption of the miniature artwork practices.”

Talking to The News, a faculty member of the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture’s print making department, Nurayah Nabi, said: “Jatoi’s work of diagrammed illustration is the first phase from where an artist begins an invention and then gives suitable colours of choice to the body of work in the second phase.”