In Pakistan, August has always been full of activities as the nation celebrates the Independence Day. This year, these activities have acquired a new dimension as political situation is also very charged. In this atmosphere, Gallery 6 of Islamabad organised a group show of four female painters who live and work in the diplomatic environment of the capital. Names of Fauzia Minallah, Mubina Zuberi and Sajida Hussain are quite noticeable in the local art scene while the fourth participant Zohra Amarta Shah is an emerging talent.

The exhibition “Four Fabulous Fantasies” displayed a variety of techniques and subject matter that the four painters adopted for their art. The show ranged from trees to birds and from stylised female figures to the symbolic rendering of birds.

Fauzia Minallah spent her early life in Peshawar and received art training there. Her instinctual inclination is towards the ancient cultural heritage of this land and she concentrates on painting blooming trees and structured tree trunks. She paints colourful flowers of the Jacaranda trees and the rough, textured and visually complex surfaces of their tree trunks. This approach may well be her intentional effort to link the present generation; the flowers, with the solidly planted trunks, to signify the strong position and importance of the past heritage.

Paintings with aesthetic qualities as well as serving the concept of art for life

On the other hand, Sajida Hussain has a natural tendency of painting female figures, using the linear and curvilinear contours of the woman’s body to serve for the compositional demands. The lavishly rendered and arranged along with an object or a bird; females of Hussain’s painting that she crafts as a cubist, create a visually balanced composition. In addition, she uses the dragged brushstrokes of warm colours to complement the impressionistic needs, she seems inspired of.

Untitled, Sajida Hussain

Mubina Zuberi also presented her figurative paintings which she has been obsessed with since her student days of 1970s. However, Zuberi’s style is much different and subjective due to the psychological concerns of the artist and the imagination she depends upon for finding the character of these figures.

The emotional charge created by virtue of the strong imagination inclines her painting approach towards abstraction and individualism. Therefore, Zuberi portrays the woman of mythology or folklore, which shows the artist’s “interior monologue” getting to vent based on a continuous thought process. With a subtle touch of elongation, few of Zuberi’s portraits remind the modern-style characterisation of Amedeo Modigliani.

The relatively younger artist, Zohra Amarta Shah spent her early life at Scotland and after completing her school education, she settled in Pakistan. She graduated from the Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture Karachi, with miniature painting as her major subject. Shah can be categorised as a socially conscious artist who responds to the burning issues through her medium of painting and symbolic style.

In this show, she presented her paintings based on child abuse; a controversial and divisive problem of our society. Shah has implied the vulture as a symbol for the ‘abuser’ who is always looking for an opportunity to trap and prey the frail birds. She believes that her art can be helpful in creating awareness about “child abuse” which is still considered a taboo subject in the local context.

This group exhibition with diverse themes and techniques presented diversified visual experience to the viewers. The show not only presented the paintings with aesthetic qualities but also served the concept of “art for life”.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, August 17th, 2014