LAHORE: A group show of artworks titled, “Introspective Patterns of Interpersonal Relations” opened at Alhamra Art Gallery on Wednesday.

Former chief minister Chauhdry Parvez Elahi inaugurated the exhibition.

Visual art lovers and students and teachers from different art institutions attended the inaugural ceremony. The show will remain on display until March 4.

The exhibition features the works of 18 artists from Kinnaird College and the National College of Arts. The artists are Aymen Hasan, Fatima Imran, Hina Fatima, Izza Tahir, Javeria Arshad, Imran Baloch, Mansoor Ali, M Asad Gulzar, Maham Moosa, Minahil Tauseef, Moina Batool, Rabiya Asim, Rebecca Arfan, Rushma Rana, Saima Jabbar, Saadia Bashir, Saima Munawar, and Zainab Shahid.

The art show aims to expand understanding of the possibilities of viewing contemporary approaches to art.

Curator Saima Jabbar told Dawn interpersonal communication in art defines how artists use psychological, communicative, relational, nonverbal, contextual, and discourse strategies to conduct their relationships with the subjects and objects.

“The exhibition probes several phenomena, including cultural differences, self-disclosure, and the communication of intercultural artists,” she said.

“Hence, forceful representation for each artist’s interpersonal processes is summarized.”

The artists at the exhibition came up with diverse ideas.

Aymen Hasan’s work is a subtle effort to highlight the long-term impacts of trauma and emotional neglect in childhood. With conventional and non-conventional textile materials, the artist highlights how trauma and neglect can halt the growth of the mind in the early formative years of life.

To Fatima Imran, compulsive human beings are being engulfed in the pattern of emotions of existence. By intervening with perception and feelings, the work creates a dialogue with the viewer to recollect past experiences.

Hina Fatima’s work is on the relationship between memory and the unconscious.

Imran Baloch’s work is about language recognition. He believes that the use of the Urdu language is decreasing day by day in recent times and that we are distorting our identity.

Izza Tahir’s work is about patterns, raising the question. By applying mixed media and unconventional mediums, the artist created an extruding grind that tiptoes around the sneezing malarkey, as she calls her work.

Javeria Arshad highlights childhood memories, which can be more of a nightmare than a pleasant dream for a child. Maham Moosa’s work is about travelling back to old times. Her art piece portrays the nostalgic history of division.

Mansoor Ali’s work is inspired by western comic books where visual and textual sequences are depicted in a dark and humorous way. Minahil Tauseef’s work explored the relationship between fantasy and reality.

Moina Batool chose a topic towards an abstract approach by using some indirect metaphors that include moth and seed pods as a symbol for death and protection.

Muhammad Asad Gulzar’s work revolves around the fact that life is a series of peaks and valleys, highs and lows, and ebbs and flows.

Rebecca Arfan takes up isolation that is increasingly evident in our society. Rabiya Asim’s work highlights hermeneutics as a philosophical approach to understanding and interpreting trees in nature.

Rushma Rana’s work is about autophobia — the persistent fear of being alone. Saadia Bashir’s work ponders the otherworldly and endeavors to recreate the connection we have all lost with the divine expressed through nature.

Published in Dawn, March 2nd, 2023