ISLAMABAD: Khaas Contemporary on Thursday inaugurated a solo exhibition titled ‘Zakhmi Dil’ by Amra Khan in collaboration with Unesco and the Embassy of France.

The artist’s fourth solo show takes forward her ongoing exploration of queer and alpha male archetypes in the Pakistani community, focusing on two main paths: ‘Ecce homo’ large-scale oil paintings and ‘The Vermilions’, a series of vibrant acrylic paintings.

Amra explains, “Zakhmi Dil comes from the series ‘The Vermilions’, which are bright yet gritty paintings set in domestic, congested, cluttered, intimate spaces filled with western, colonial furniture and surrounded by pattered red walls. The subjects are painted with raw and harsh strokes as they play dress up, surrounded by objects each carrying their own history. Decked in jewellery carrying the symbol of the ‘Chand Tara’, surrounded by vessels of adornment containing kohl, perfumes, and incenses.”

The show has been curated to encapsulate a symphony of emotions as it archives moments that reveal the intricate human experience.

Amra shared, “My practice has been more than 15 years now, and it looks at researching the queer and alpha archetypes and questioning the binary. I do a lot of research, and I produce a lot of work as I constantly paint. With each show, the trajectory changes a little. The last show looked exclusively at the straight man’s archetype in Punjab in public spaces, while this series specifically speaks of the boudoirs, the indoor spaces, the intimate spaces that make you feel comfortable, that make you feel wanted, and they let you be who you want to be.”

Catherine Weibel said, “It’s a wonderful exhibition. It is wonderful because of the very interesting history behind the paintings, there is a lot of thinking done behind the identity. What is it to be a woman, what is it to be a man. There is a very powerful painting in which a transgender women is seen surrounded by symbols of femininity, she is wearing makeup, she is taking care of herself and at the same time in the mirror, you have the reflection of a man which is the identity which society is trying to impose on her, against her will. I felt it was a very powerful message.”

She added, “It is also a very beautiful exhibition because of the quality of the art. You have a sense of colour, which is amazing; you have some of the art which is in three dimensions. You have the colours of the paintings reflected outside on the frames, as if the painting was trying to enter our world. Some of the paintings are embedded within wooden objects, like a wooden chest- you have a chest in the painting and then you have objects from within the painting on the chest like a kohl pencil, necklaces - again, giving the impression that that painting is entering our world. There is a constant dialogue between the figures, transgender women and, in some cases, men, where they are watching us as we are watching them.”

The artist reuses wood and objects borrowed or inherited from demolished houses — old pieces of furniture, old frames, repurposed to add to the narrative of her work. The use of the ‘surmadaani’ is particularly evocative, as it is a motif out of time and, as she puts it, “the one piece of halal makeup that anyone can use.”

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2024