A group exhibition titled The Space in Between featuring artists Shakila Haider, Naira Mushtaq, Muhammad Shahid and Haider Ali opened at the Taseer Art Gallery on Thursday.
As many as 22 pieces of mixed media on wasli, gel transfer and collage on paper, gouache on wasli and Mattie C print were exhibited.
Talking to The Express Tribune Mushtaq said memories could get distorted over time. She said often in fading memories, only colours, sounds and smells were forgotten.
“As a result, these impressions are of no value,” she said.
“My work explores the illusion of memories, a sense of nostalgia and fear of the present in a constant yearning for the past in an idealised or distorted form,” she said.
Mushtaq said she had used experiences regarding memories to deconstruct people’s old family photographs, and created new images from them.
“Each image evokes a certain mood and emotion encased in a unique memory,” she said.
“The series tells a fragmented story of emotions, moods, and moments that transform these foreign, family photographs into something familiar and thought-provoking.”
Mushtaq said she wanted to establish a universal familiarity with each image, allowing viewers to extract their own personal meaning.
Artist Shakila Haider said her work, titled Beyond the Border, was a depiction of her relationship with her father, and his feelings for the world around him.
“We represent two generations of the Hazara community facing two generations of war. My father faced persecution during the Soviet War in Afghanistan in the1980s, and I am living in a place where my community is the target of unprecedented sectarian and ethnic violence,” she said.
Haider said her works carried images from her father’s life and depicted tribal values and customs.
She said living in a conflict zone had helped her create juxtapositions of natural colours and geometric motifs.
Muhammad Shahid said his idea for the exhibition was simple; to create images by using repetitive strokes.
Shahid said his canvass was coated with layer upon layer of paint. He said each stroke would encourage the viewer to look deeper into the paintings.
He said the overall effect of the work was meant to be “heavy.”
The exhibition will continue till December 31.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 27th, 2013.