LAHORE: An exhibition of artworks by fresh graduates of the National College of Arts (NCA) opened at Ejaz Art Gallery on MM Alam Road on Wednesday.

The artists in this exhibition have used various media such as miniature, sculpture, painting and printmaking and brought together a powerful visual art show.

Qasim Ali says about his work, “My work revolves around themes of celebration and performance in relation to queer narratives. Reflecting on my personal experience of being bullied, I became interested in language and communication, producing an artistic body of work that is visually focused on written text. I use text as a tool to make recurring marks, creating textures and patterns. By merging text, colour and paint, I create illusive visual imagery”.

Hira Noor says her work is the reflection of her experience with pain. To her experiences of pain are so scary and profound that they cut through our individual differences and tap into our hardwired nature. Noor has used in her work a combination of silhouettes to reflect the inseparable bond that one shares, when in a state of distress.

Irfan Abdullah’s work is based on his investigation providing the challenge to himself to figure out the experiences of human bodies through accumulation and manipulation of different materials and cultural ideologies.

Aleena Raza’s work revolves around her obsession with night skies and how she continuously tries to recreate the same meditative feeling she gets while stargazing.

Aleezah Qayyum’s work explores the relationship of different forms and textures with the human body. Her practice also involves looking at fleshy, fluid, translucent, and glossed textures which she uses to paint her clay models - turning them into pieces of living mass.

Hafsa Nouman’s work deals with the idea of exploring memory through an archaeological perspective. “I practice this by treating the surface as an archaeological site, manifesting my mind as a wall that allows the past, present and future to exist onto a single surface.”

Momina Javed’s work is about capturing and manipulating the spaces, considering them as a metaphor for human presence and evolution.

Aymen Alam’s work comprises themes relating to nostalgia and surreal recollections of her childhood home. Using paint and photo transfers the artist captures these fleeting moments of nostalgia to safeguard these memories forever.

Esha Rashid’s work speaks of the nostalgic compositions of home and away from home.

Murtaza Zaidi’s work is an examination of the origins and religio-cultural significance of visual symbols.

Umeed Malik’s work looks at ordinary things from an unimaginable point of view. The artist takes the simplest of the things and puts them in extraordinary light. Her work involves manual labour which is shown through the process of stitching, forming various lines, monotony and repetition.

Hadiqa Asad’s theme is solace. “My whole theme is solace and the medium is Gouache on Wasli (miniature technique). My idea behind art is based on my personal experience”. The artist mainly shows these emotions through hand expressions greatly inspired by renaissance art.

Marium Ahtasham’s work stems from her deep-rooted fascination for culinary arts “which has led me to explore themes around it”.

Nabeel Naveed’s work investigates the execution and planning of urban fabric that fails to reel unattended informal sector’s stake in publicly occupied spaces, restricted mobility and persistent encounter with elements of control.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2022