Exhibition opens at Alhamra

LAHORE: An exhibition titled ‘City of Dreams and Nightmares’ opened at Alhamra here on Tuesday. Displaying the works of Bibi Hajra Cheema and Sachal Rizvi, the exhibition explores the city and the various people leaving here. Both artists are graduates of the National College of Arts. The exhibition is curated by Anum Lashari. Rizvi’s work includes intricate drawings, looking at the ordinary cityscape from a different perspective.

Talking about his work Rizvi says: “I aspire to create a visual experience of the hidden lands and cities of our collective imagination, which manifest themselves in brief moments of a thoughtless state of mind.”

Rizvi explores the architecture of the city, the buildings, their detail, shedding light on ordinary structures throughout the city. One of his works titled 'Mohalla - 4’ is the top down view of what appears to be a neighborhood in the older parts of Lahore.

The work captures the arches, Jharokas and occasionally the glimpse of a charpoy through the window, showing life inside. Some of his other work looks at the details of structures, as if looking through a magnifying glass.

While Rizvi's work deals with the intricacies of the buildings Cheema’s work delves deeper into those living in them - the various attitudes and events we see every day. She finds inspiration in normal characters but drawing them as she views them.

Women are often central to her work. Talking about her work Cheema says she aims: “To explore stories that are invisible from afar and the rumble of diverse expressions makes the larger whole appear incomprehensible at first.”