Duo show by renowned artists continues at Nomad Art Gallery

Islamabad: The thought provoking duo show by artists, Saadia Hussain and Mohsin Shafi continues to allure the art lovers of twin cities here at Nomad Art Gallery.

The exhibition titled, ‘No Man’s Land’, showcase artworks including, mix media, photography, text, painting and a vivid imagination to capture fleeting imagery from history and the inner self.

Saadia Hussain exhibited her artworks, nationally and internationally in group and solo shows in major cities of Pakistan, including at Syra Art Gallery, DC Washington and John Hopkins University, Washington. According to her, she said her most recent work was focused on translating the pictorial language and interpretation presented by photography into my own visual vocabulary.

Vintage family photographs, both monochromatic and other mediums such as photo construction and paintings are the means to create my work.

In addition, my images have been part of blurred space by over lapping figures and the use of military history to create the illusion of a complex reality. A photograph for me is a way to tell a story and evoke a feeling. My goal is to translate history into a story of which fantasy is an essential element. A photograph for me is a way to tell a story and evoke a feeling. My goal is to translate history into a story of which fantasy is an essential element, she added.

The other artist of the show, Mohsin Shaf in his artists statement said, I exploit my unadulterated access to the deepest emotions embedded beneath the surface, only to explore the whispered secrets of dreams and long buried memories.

This is my burden, my struggle constant, in hopes to validate the I. I question the blurred edges between identity and the intentions of identity. Attempting to capture what I see and record their frail existence, only to return and relive.

Hoping to make the viewer see reality through the fiction of my eyes. Where nothing is as it is and everything is as it is not. The visual metaphors combine realistic portrayals of ordinary events with elements of myth, to allow myself the luxury of a disconnection from the fallacies of truth.

Hoping to record the naked and defenceless ideas of the subconscious mind, somewhere between dreams and their documentation. I use the worn, the used, the almost invisible. These small, unique, yet ordinary things.

I therefore investigate the dark recesses of the relevant human psyche, to explore a reality of ghouls and monsters. This assumes to be an effort to recreate my world, in a no man’s land.

It is the idea of the abnormal that fascinates me and perhaps therefore the preoccupation with narcotics and the dangerous pursuit of chemical dreaming. The work is based on personal snapshots, images from old compendium, borrowed from acquaintances and some even stolen from social media.

These are in my opinion, disturbing interpretations of familiar subjects, slumbering histories and buried traumas. Through a play with an existing library of image and text, I attempt to communicate multiple interpretations of the one true meaning.

And perhaps in doing so, pose more questions than answers. These perceived images hence become facets of my current persona, both real and imagined. These are the spaces between translation and interpretation where confusion happens and things are forgotten and remembered as stories change. We keep being born, we keep dying, with a mechanical predictability, an insistent return. Does this accumulate towards a greater ideological evolution or just a weak existence on repeat in the land - unknown? After all, we are the reaps of our early experiences.

The exhibition will continue till December 31. PBM: Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) was planning to operationalise 26 new Pakistan Sweet Homes (PSHs) in various areas of the country during next year, said official sources.

He said as many as 10,000 abandoned and orphan children would be enrolled in PSHs during the next calendar year (2019). He said 38 Sweet Homes having the capacity of 4,000 children were currently providing basic amenities including boarding, education, food, clothing, nutritious balanced diet and medical care facilities.

The marooned children were also being imparted English language courses and other skills. He said PBM had distributed 55,000 wheelchairs, 5,000 artificial limbs to deserving special persons during last 10 years. Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal (PBM) has also spent Rs731 million on providing scholarships to deserving students, medical treatment to the deserving and providing equipment to the handicap in last three months.