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R I V E R I N A N O C E A N

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RIVER IN AN OCEAN

A collateral event of LB01

20 — 31 March 2018

CURATED BY

Abdullah Qureshi

& Natasha Malik

ADVISOR

Saira Ansari

DESIGNER COORDINATOR

Hammas Wali

EXHIBITION COORDINATOR

Hassan Sheikh

Amra Khan

Anushka Rustomji & Zara Asgher

Aziz Sohail

Damon Kowarsky

Faraz Aamer Khan

Farsam Zafar & Waleed Zafar

Fiza Khatri

Haider Ali Akmal

Hilde Krohn Huse

Imran Nafees Siddiqui

Lali Khalid

Maha Ahmed

Malcolm Hutcheson

Mohsin Shafi

Mustafa Boğa

Natasha Jozi

Noor Ul Ain Choudhry & Harris Chowdhary

Noor us Saba Saeed

Rabila Kidwai

Rehan Bashir & Gillian Rhodes

Saba Khan

Sarah Mumtaz

Seyhr Qayum

Ujala Hayat

Vidha Saumya

Zahrah Ehsan

Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

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On July 17, 2017, Lala Rukh passed away in Lahore after a short battle with cancer. In her lifetime, she held many titles – feminist, activist, artist, teacher, and mentor – but it was in her death that the extent of her influence played out. Tributes poured in from every part of the world and sometimes from the unlikeliest of corners. It is a testament to what students of Lala Rukh have always known: in her many roles (and within her strong predilection for privacy) Lala had been a giver. She gave without limit, and she stood by anyone who she felt needed standing by. She shared herself, her mind, her thoughts, generously, but also cautiously. If she felt that the taker was not sincere – and imagine this in any context you may – Lala would not engage.

Along the way, Lala made a lot of friends and at the same time, just as many adversaries. It is not easy to move against the grain and demand space for your own individuality. In her art practice she quietly, almost silently, continued to carve her own way through the walls that obstructed her. In her activism and her role as a teacher, she vocalised loud and clear, and without fear, against what was wrong, exploitative, or even lazy.

It is this strength and rigour that inspired Abdullah Qureshi and Natasha Malik when they began working on a show addressing difference. But the poetry lies in how they chose not to use an obvious political work from her activism, but instead a quiet, contemplative work, River in an ocean, as the title. Both Abdullah and Natasha, addressed how and why her mode and vocabulary of working resounded so deeply with them. This slow consistency was what they aspired to – a chipping away at normativity, and making room for the other. And, they felt it was necessary for them to acknowledge Lala’s immense contributions to the world of art, academia and activism, by enacting her simple principles in their

F O R E W O R D

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practice. In short, they wanted to pay homage where it was due.

Resistance has meant different things to different people at different times – but the core has always been about truth, acceptance, understanding and movement. It is both about the past and the future, and it is always about the present. Resistance comes in many formats and in many registers. Movements of non-violence have sometimes created watershed moments, where poetry, song and dance have provided impetus and ammunition to the tyrannized like no traditional weapon could. This was a philosophy that, to many of us, Lala seemed to embody.

Abdullah and Natasha were very careful in their choice of words when beginning this conversation and recognized from the beginning what their intentions for this exhibition were. But in an effort not to evade complexities, they discussed the layers that surround difficult conversations around identity, sexuality, and gender politics, especially in the context of contemporary Pakistan. They also understood that neither will their attempt be comprehensive, nor the works included representative of a whole, but the desire to activate conversation – with all its problems – is an ambitious and formidable task. They foresee friction, but then, when are difficult conversations straightforward?

- Saira Ansari

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“Why do we keep going back to the 80s?” asks Salima Hashmi in a recent talk titled, ‘The Power of Art and Activism in the 1980s’. Unraveling this statement, the panelists discussed how the decade, like many other places in the world, was a tumultuous time for Pakistan too. Under General Zia ul Haq’s rule anything that was perceived as a threat to ‘Islamic’ ideology was either frowned upon or banned altogether. Literature and mass media, for their obvious public reach, were the first to be monitored and heavily censored. Dance was eliminated; a ban enforced once again this year in the Punjab. Within visual arts, calligraphy and the other genres, such as painting, landscapes were encouraged as they aligned with the rationale of the state image. However, many continued to resist, in particular the women, as observed by Hashmi in her book ‘Unveiling the Visible’, where she notes, “Not a single woman artist took up calligraphy or changed her mode of working to bring it in line with official state policy”.

It was during this time that a feminist manifesto was also written by women artists in Pakistan, privately, but very much with the promise of upholding the principles on individual and collective levels by those present. The late artist and activist, Lala Rukh (1948 - 2017), was also among the signatories. Reflecting on her life and work, one can’t help but notice how, at least on the surface, her art and activism, very much remained independent of each other. While her art was an incredibly private affair, and involved a deeply poetic and minimalist aesthetic, her activism, in contrast, was strongly engaged with civil rights as a founding member of Women Action Forum (WAF) – something she remained involved with until the very end.

‘River in an ocean’ is a specific series by Lala Rukh from the early 90s. Discussing the works in her essay, ‘Tranquility Amid Turmoil’,

C U R A T O R I A L N O T E

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Jyoti Dhar writes:

“River in an Ocean” (1992–93) was conceived after a trip to Peshawar where the artist glanced out of the plane window and observed the way light snaked and glimmered on the water’s surface. “It looked like this brilliant river shining silver in the dark,” she said. “And it stayed with me.” She developed a series of small-scale works on photographic paper that were darkened and made to look almost translucent, then gently painted on with tiny wave-like brushstrokes. The result is an ethereal pattern of silver light against a moody, grey sky and deep-black sea: a glimpse into a brooding, wondrous and miniature landscape.

Dhar continues to address the affinities between Lala Rukh’s practice and the works of Nasreen Mohamedi, Agnes Martin as well as Zarina Hashmi. Agreeing and responding to this, Rukh is quoted to have said, “they were all on the outside and isolated in some way”. In this line of thought, commenting on Rukh’s “two distinct worlds”, Dhar writes:

“For many years, there was a strong distinction between Lala Rukh’s two worlds: her private studio practice and her public activism. The loud aesthetic of the protest posters also seemed far removed from her quiet drawings—but somewhere down the line there would be synergies between the two.”

It is here that we, as curators, pick up the conversation through this exhibition. Metaphorically, the idea of a river in an ocean interested us very much, because this in itself is a physical impossibility. Of course, rivers flow into seas and oceans, however, once they flow in, they merge and become one. So, what is this idea of an intact river existing within an ocean? Could it be read as a utopian idea of resistance too, where it could be seen as navigating through expansive wilderness? Is it possible to consider that this navigation through a larger body of water is symbolic of a transformative journey? We’d like to think so.

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Taking this forward, we draw from Lala Rukh’s life-long commitment to fight for gender equality and discrimination against women and minorities, surveying how artists in Pakistan (and beyond) examine these concerns within their work today. Through an open-call process, we selected 27 artists and collaborators who bring forward the multiplicity, as well as the complex nature, of such a dialogue in the country. The artworks presented open conversations that critique institutional inequality, traditional roles and spaces assigned for women, as well as heteronormativity. We are clear on the fact that this, by no means, is a conclusive representation of gender related perspectives in Pakistani visual arts. However, it still very much brings forward many interpretations as well as questions that help us achieve a better understanding of the radical shifts Pakistani society has made since the 80s.

In an effort to build strong connections between the present and the past, and in times where violence based on gender and persecution of minorities continues to increase on an exponential level, perhaps this exhibition can also be seen as a form of resistance. We hope that this will open up ways to further conceptualise alternative frameworks built upon larger histories of Pakistan’s socio-political and artistic narrative.

Bibliography

Dhar, J. (2017, March/April). Turmoil Amid Tranquility, Lala Rukh. Art Asia Pacific. Hashmi,

S. (2003). Unveiling the Visible. Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications.

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Amra Khan

HagiaFrom the series ‘Zananna Masjid’

Mixed media28 x 28 x 20 cm2018

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Amra Khan

The Dome of the PinkFrom the series ‘Zananna Masjid’

Mixed media12.7 x 12.7cm2018

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Anushka Rustomji & Zara AsgherExecuted by Hammas Wali

ایک نرالا شہر , شہر كے اندر نہر , نہر كے بیچ میں آگ

Video3 minutes 51 seconds2018

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Anushka Rustomji & Zara AsgherExecuted by Hammas Wali

ایک نرالا شہر , شہر كے اندر نہر , نہر كے بیچ میں آگ

Photograph2018

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Aziz Sohail

At midnight there was no border II

Vinyl text2018

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Damon Kowarsky

Proyecto Marico I

Etching and aquatint20 cm x 30 cm2018

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Faraz Aamer Khan

Binary

Live Performance40 minutes2018

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Faraz Aamer Khan

Untitled

Drawing and audio installationDimensions variable2018

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Farsam Zafar & Waleed Zafar

The Paradigm of Eventuality

Video7 minutes 36 seconds2018

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Fiza Khatri

Bills that Kills

Oil on canvas46 x 61 cm2018

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Haider Ali Akmal

Among Others

Etching on archival paper30 x 30 cm2012

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Haider Ali Akmal

Whispers

Video3 minutes 6 seconds2013

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Hilde Krohn Huse

Comment Down Below

Video11 minutes2016

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Imran Nafees Siddiqui

لال شلوار

Printed photograph51 x 74 cm2018

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Lali Khalid

Home. In my heart, beating so far away.

Photographic projection on hanging fabric8 minutes 8 seconds2017

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Maha Ahmed

Neighbours

Diptych, gouache on paper23 x 24 cm2018

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Malcolm Hutcheson

Negar and Meera From the series ‘Angelcopiers’

Archival digital prints17.7 x 12.7 cm2009

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Malcolm Hutcheson

Kashmira and DedarFrom the series ‘Angelcopiers’

Archival digital prints17.7 x 12.7 cm2009

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Mohsin Shafi

Dirt Under My Nails

Animation, suitcase, LCD screen and cardboardDimensions variable2010

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Mustafa Boğa

Where Do We Go?

Video1 minute 39 seconds2016

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Mustafa Boğa

There he is without a proper diagnosis

Video 1 minute 20 seconds2016

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Natasha Jozi

The Working Cytology of Performance

Long durational performance4 hours2018

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Noor Ul Ain Choudhry and Harris Chowdhary

An Amazing Arrival of Stories

Mixed mediaDimensions variable2018

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Noor us Sabah Saeed

I Can Draw Here But I Cannot Sit Here

Drawing and film installationDimensions variable2017

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Rabila Kidwai

Pregnant Commute

Printed Book33 x 28 cm2018

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Rabila Kidwai

Oddity

Ink on paper33 x 28 cm2017

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Rehan Bashir and Gillian Rhodes

Nibiru

Contemporary dance and Kathak performance8 minutes 17 seconds2018

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Saba Khan

The Gates are Open

762 x 777 cmFlex printing2018

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Sarah Mumtaz

Mend me one stitch at a time

Site-specific installation and performanceDimensions variable2018

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Seyhr Qayum

That’s Quite a Shadow You Cast

Iron frame, steel sheet, and wire meshHeight 10 ft., Diameter 3 ft. 2018

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Ujala Hayat

Untitled III

Printed photograph8.5 x 5.5 cm2018

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Vidha Saumya

Purdah (Veil)

Printed with archival ink on HahnemuhleClosed size: 23 x 13 cm, Opened size: 23 x 377 cm2018

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Vidha Saumya

UsefulnessFrom the series ‘Purdah’

Ink on paper 23 x 13 cm 2007

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Vidha Saumya

BloomingFrom the series ‘Purdah’

Ink on paper23 x 13 cm2007

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Zahrah Ehsan

The Sky Looks The Same On The Other Side

Water-based markers & acrylic paint on glassDimensions variable2018

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Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Tomorrow We Inherit The Earth

Video13 minutes 53 seconds2018

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Zulfikar Ali Bhutto

Tomorrow We Inherit The Earth

Video13 minutes 53 seconds2018

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T H E S I T E

Lahore is a city that is rapidly changing due to mass urbanization and unplanned government-led development projects which have uprooted communities and threatened heritage.

It was very much a conscious decision on our part as curators to engage with an industrial site. Watex (Pvt) Ltd was a towel factory founded in the 1950s. This year, the factory was vacated due to a change of ownership. COLABS is an upcoming co-working and serviced office space, a project of Sabcon Associates (Pvt) Ltd. It is converting the factory into a modern industrial building for its first flagship site. Our exhibition took place in the moment of this transition.

We would like to thank COLABS for making this exhibition possible and the Lahore Biennale Foundation for their support.

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‘Gender and Film’

Abdullah Qureshi in conversationwith Akifa Mian and Rabia Hassan.

(Bottom) by Rabia Hassan خیال

T A L K S

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‘Trans lives are our lives; taking the conversation forward’

Panel with Sarah Suhail, Ashi Jan, Mehlab Jameel and Sabahat Rizvi

T A L K S

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Reflective session with the artistsT A L K S

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This catalogue was made on the occasion of the ‘River in an ocean’ exhibition, a project by The Creative Process, organised as a collateral event of the Lahore Biennale 01, with the generous support of COLABS.

50-N Gurumangat Road, Gulberg II, Lahore, Pakistan.

All images courtesy the artists and The Creative Process.

Designed by Muniba Rasheed