Artists and curators came together on Friday to talk about how art evolved in Pakistan over time.
The talk titled ‘Challenges and Changes Faced by Pakistan’s Art Ecosystem in the Last 25 Years’ was organised by the Writers and Readers Cafe at the Pakistan Medical Association House.
The discussion was moderated by art critic Niilofur Farrukh. Artist and curator Amin Gulgee said that things had changed, especially after 9/11, which had its effect on the country’s artistic scene.
“There was the idea of policy and nation building. Building us, right? We need to be built, I suppose,” the artist said, adding that there were ramifications of this action. However, he added that nothing changed for him. “My trajectory, my interest comes from myself. I am self-absorbed,” he remarked.
Reflecting on the evolution of art practices, he said that earlier modernist artists had highly individualistic and distinctive styles, unlike the more recent trends. “I remember the modernists, and they were, for me, really children in their practices,” Amin said. “In the end, each one was very personalised and each one was so signature.”
He stated that artists of that period could easily be identified through their unique styles and approaches. However, he argued that artistic discourse later began adopting themes influenced by international conversations rather than local realities.
“It almost seems like we got our topics from abroad. Now we’re talking about Iran. Now it’s global warming. Now it’s animal rights,” the artist said. He lamented that there were no museums in the country. “Look at Bangladesh, they have museums because they have evolved. But we don’t,” he lamented.
To a question about the commodification of art, he said, “it always was commodified.” Niilofur said artists such as Sadequain and Ahmed Pervez largely relied on income generated through their own work and had greater artistic independence. “After 2000, maybe the funding and a lot of direction came from a lot of places where the artists started looking to them for the funding,” she said.
“Looking out. Looking abroad,” interjected Gulgee. “That happened after 9/11, remember? And that is something that nobody wants to talk about in the arts scene. Suddenly, look, the government really took more charge,” he went on.
Niilofur said: “There is a systemic problem regarding research, new knowledge, and creating history. We have a very difficult relationship with our own history. And we never look to our own context beyond a certain superficial way.”
Archival artist, curator and art educator Romila Kareem said she started with a lot of things but printmaking was very close to her heart. “I realised that when we were studying all the resources we had were all western published. The heavy Art Through the Ages book had only a few pages about us,” she added.
“So in my student life, I had always thought that whenever I go to the library, I see works of Europe, I see works of other countries, I see works of America, I see works of other artists, but where are our books? Where are the works of our past years?” she asked.
She added that while some material on painting was available, there was little documentation related to printmaking. She said she then went on collect works on printmaking. “This is my practice that whatever is happening around you should be documented. It should be kept. It should be archived in such a way that someone can benefit from it. It is not necessary that you work on a big topic. So this element of archiving was also included in my art practice.”
Artist Sheherbano Husain shared that she started with self-portraits. “I began with a kind of introspective work,” she said. “You know like a lot of people say, your environment makes you. I sometimes, through also my meditative practice, believe that it is who you are that makes the environment,” she added.
“I feel that before a person becomes an activist or does something, he should know himself. He should confront his own issues, his own fears, whatever they are,” the artist said. “Then your capacity will be built. And when your capacity starts to build as an individual, then you can bring in the collective, and that also improves,” she added.
