ISLAMABAD: Be it the urban bustle of modern cities or ruins of old metropolises, every site located in them has a deep history with memories embedded in it.

The impact of such sites and urban environments on patterns of life is the focus of Mamoona Riaz and Farrukh Addnan’s works inRetracing the Urban Fabricheld at Satrang Gallery.

Asma Rashid Khan, founder and director of Satrang Gallery, said: “This exhibition holds a special place for Satrang Gallery and myself. It is an honour to host these talented artists who are both rising stars and we are absolutely thrilled to exhibit their work and share it with a wide audience. Both Mamoona and Farrukh exhibited with us when they were young graduates; since then, we have been following their practice and have seen it evolve and grow. Mamoona went on to become Satrang Gallery’s first assistant curator.”

“The context of urban land in both their delicately crafted works is particularly relevant to countries like ours where the past and modernity come together,” Ms Khan added.

Zahra Khan, the show’s curator, said: “The exhibition encourages viewers to thoughtfully consider the impact of their daily encounters, routes, routines and the places they frequent upon themselves and upon those sites.”

She said that Mamoona and Farrukh’s delicate artworks were painstakingly created and were deeply layered. “Both artists base their art on carefully researched subjects, in Farrukh’s case, old ruins and in Mamoona’s, living breathing cities - the results are similar, their versions of these cities are imprinted and immortalised in their work,” she added.

Addnan’s works delve into the emotions associated with spaces and their evolution over time. Hailing from Tulamba, an ancient archaeological site located in south Punjab, Addnan’s work is an exploration and contemplation of history. The work is also a comment on the expansion of cities, on aspects of migration and the profound impact on the form of the changing landscape.

Ms Riaz said: “My comment is on how the divergence from one space to another works, and how, within us, fragments of each encounter manifest in changes. These encounters are with the patterns we most interact with, the maps of the places we live in. With time the patterns of these maps become one with us and are etched within our memory.”

She said the parallels between the delicacy and detail of 2d traditional miniature technique of pigment application in layers are transformed into 3d overlapping of paper and drawings.

“Traditional miniature art patterns are converted into patterns made from cogs and gears, depicting the forever ongoing machine which a city is, the map of Islamabad is the pattern which I live in, which keeps moving and changing,” she said, adding that the maps of the city are woven together to form a new map. Ms Riaz said these new patterns at some place look like mark-making, symbolising the erasure of moments which are then forever etched into memory.

The weaving and layering of the extremely thin and delicate paper strips with ink and drawings on them through a painstaking process resonates of the Tapai and Pardakht of miniature painting.

Mehar Zehra, a visitor to the show, said: “Mamoona Riaz’s work is spectacular, delicate and elegant. She has gained many admirers of her outstanding work.”

Similarly, Abdaal Bukhari said: “The work is amazing, the detail and the effort put in is extremely painstaking and precise and they have done an amazing job.”

Nihal Ghazi found the exhibition remarkable.

“Seeing the art pieces from an architect’s point of view, it is quite different to fathom what’s going on inside the artist’s mind but the exhibition depicted everything in an architectural friendly way,” she said.

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2022