In celebration of 75 years of Pakistan, The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London exhibited three ‘interventions’ in various parts of the museum by British-Pakistani Artist Osman Yousefzada. They were titled ‘What is Seen and What is Not’.

The first intervention was installed at the front of the museum. In the Grand Entrance were three large banners suspended above eye level, which defied contemporary aesthetics and had a primitive look to them. Composed of painting, printmaking and embroidery using course string, these pieces were inspired by the Falnama, the book of omens common in the Ottoman and Mughal era.

The dark tribal silhouettes in the artwork represented descendants of djinns and demons that have historically been used in tarot cards by fortune tellers in the above-named empires. For Yousefzada, however, they were reminiscent of figures from Mohenjo Daro, such as the Priest King and the Dancing Girl, and represented the displaced — people that belong to neither this world nor another.

All three of Yousefzada’s interventions were clever takes on displacement, immigration and the notion of belonging. They aimed to tackle colonialism and its ever-persisting impact on the colonised, in a nuanced conversation through recognisable objects.

British-Pakistani artist Osman Yousefzada’s V&A interventions were clever takes on displacement, immigration and the notion of belonging

Such was the case with his two other exhibits. Placed in a corner of the Sculpture Galleries was a kind of narrow scaffold, with various levels. Each level had numerous potlis or pands placed on it. These little pouches, wrapped in either fabric or plastic, are a common sight in middle class households across Pakistan, more so in the past but still present today. This was the artist’s ode to his mother, who used these as well.

This piece reflected the struggles of immigrant women and mothers, and a domestic space where they asserted their agency and privacy. Simultaneously, it represented packing up and was a comment on immigration. The various pouches were cast in a variety of material including, but not limited to, glass, ceramic and clay, as well as fabric. Where the fabric-wrapped bundles were easily recognisable, the ceramic and glass pieces were a more abstract presentation of a traditional practice.

Where the second intervention was esoteric and catered to the female experience of migration in a patriarchal society, the third and last intervention was broad and relatable by most. Placed in the centre of the museum by a water body, in the vicinity of Queen Victoria’s mosaic frieze, the meaning of the installation was manifold.

The installation consisted of a boat, much like a small fishing vessel, crafted by artisans in Karachi and painted black, an alam or banner of sorts embroidered with a filigree pattern, and a whole range of charpoys and peerrhis (stools). The charpoys were stacked in a flexible cuboid shape at the start and end of the day, and were used liberally by museum-goers as and wherever they pleased in the garden, during the day. The same applied to the mobile peerrhis.

The charpoys were loaded with meaning, as they subverted racist colonial practices. Made from textile waste found in Pakistani factories and derelict doors from the colonial era, they had been flipped on their axis from vertical structures to a horizontal format. Each charpoy was distinct in design, depending on the door used in making it.

The main function of these doors in colonial architecture was as dividers between the colonising white folk and the coloured locals. With an interactive work of art that repurposed material for communal seating and socialising, Yousafzada subtly yet effectively commented upon and undid a colonial practice of segregation and racism.

Furthermore, the black boat that signified his concerns about immigration, displacement and disenchantment, was almost pre-emptive of the floods in Pakistan right now. With the exhibit opening in July, the boat was also meant to reference the crisis caused by climate change and future migrations caused by it, a situation Pakistan is in the throes of navigating currently.

Osman Yousafzada’s oeuvre references the history of movement and the discord and discomfort it produces, but it does not remain in the past nor the present; instead it imagines diverse futures as it manifests subtle change. His work is best condensed in writer Hammad Nasr’s statement for the exhibit: “The artist’s choreography of objects, structures and stories weaves together elements from multiple disciplines and geographies, to show us how belonging can be claimed and enacted; not as tub-thumping, flag-waving polemic, but as graceful leaps of the artistic imagination.”

‘What is Seen and What is Not’ was exhibited at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London from July 29-September 25, 2022

Published in Dawn, EOS, October 9th, 2022