Headwords:Pakistan
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Headwords
Three ancient sites recommended for Unesco list
By Our Correspondent
TAXILA, June 23: The Federal Department of Archaeology and Museums has resubmitted its plan and proposal to Unesco for inclusion of three ancient sites in its world cultural heritage list.
Talking to newsmen here on Monday, Director Headquarters of federal department of archaeology and Museums Qasim Ali Qasim has said the ancient sites included extension of Indus valley civilization Harrapa, Rehman Dehri site (DI Khan), and Mehar Garh (Balochistan).
He expressed the hope that Unesco board which was meeting in the first week of next month in Quebec City of Canada would recommend these sites for enlistment in the world cultural heritage list which were earlier deferred by the organisation due to some technical reasons.
He said that eleven ancient sites of the country were included in tentative list of the Unesco for their enlistment in world cultural heritage list. He said that these sites are Rani Ghat (district Dir), Shah Rukan-e- Alam tomb ( Multan), Badshahi Mosque ( Lahore), Rani Kot fort (Dadu), Al Mansoora site (the first Islamic capital of Sub continent), Bhambor (Sindh) and Ashoka relics (Shahbaz Gari).
He said that the Unesco World Heritage List contains areas or objects that constitute an irreplaceable component of the world’s cultural or natural heritage.
The World Heritage Convention was drawn up in 1972 to provide special protection to sites whose universal value qualifies them for preservation as part of the world heritage for future generations.
Responding to a question, Mr Qasim has said that there were many incentives and benefits for enlistment of these sites on Unesco world cultural heritage list.
He said that by enlistment these sites get international recognition and in case of any problem Unesco not only provided technical and financial support for its preservation but also called for international community help and support for these site like it launched the Save Mohenjodero campaign.
He said that by enlistment they become international and common heritage of the world and in case of the some armed conflict, these sites would not be attacked or destroyed according to UN treaty.
Responding to another question, he said that department had also submitted a bill for the amendment of the Antiquities Act of 1975 to the Ministry of Law for approval of the Parliament.
He said that under this bill the proposal had been made that the violation of antiquity act or encroachment on ancient site would be now non-bailable offence and the fine money has been proposed to enhance to Rs 5 million.
He said that documentation of the antiquities discovered from Gandhara are in process to save them from possible theft or being smuggled to some other country.
Headwords II
Going places
By Salwat Ali
Literally ‘going places’ now, the scramble for contemporary Pakistani art is escalating and a considerable amount of work, especially by young artists, is being shown abroad in groups and solo shows. This change of locale and audience is bringing subtle and at times obvious changes in concept, style and treatment to the art in question.
To place current Pakistani art in its correct perspective we need to acknowledge exhibitions of our art at international venues. As is the case in many places where contemporary art institutions are in their infancy, conceptually centred art, as against a tradition based aesthetic, is seeking new frontiers for its validation. New media art and issues considered ‘too hot’, ‘bizarre’, ‘diasporic’ or just plain ‘complex’ for local viewership, find receptive audiences in the West as well as some Asian countries where art literacy has advanced and perception levels are varied.
Other than this the disparities between the international and domestic art market also affect the valuation of art at home and abroad. It is worthwhile connecting with these developments and evaluating art and artists in the light of what they are producing, where they are exhibiting, who is responding to their art and why. This knowledge can add new dimensions to the evolving contemporary art scene here and the art produced can then be understood in context.
Deftly traversing between the media of painting, photography, video and installation, Rashid Rana is one of the leading artistic voices working out of Pakistan. His works have been showcased internationally in numerous venues and most recently alongside Piet Mondrian, Agnes Martin, Robert Rauschenberg, Andy Warhol and Andrea Gursky in the ‘Grid<>Matrix’ exhibition held in 2006. Now Rana returns to Mumbai after three years with a major solo show, titled ‘Dis- Location,’ spread across two galleries, the Chatterjie and Lal Gallery and Chemould Presscott Road, where he will be showing in a range of media, showcasing both new works and those created in the last one year.
In London, Green Cardamom’s inaugural show at their new premises spotlighted ‘Rustam,’ miniature artist Khadim Ali’s first UK solo. Reacting to the genocide in Afghanistan, Khadim had poured his anger and anguish into the ‘Jashn e Gul e Surkh’ miniatures. Reeking of blood and carnage, they created a stirring impact when first exhibited here in 2004. Still melding the illustrative and abstruse he brings the same (if not more) intensity in thought, content and workmanship to ‘Rustam.’
Encountering a young boy of this name in his hometown Bamiyan, Khadim Ali was struck by the child’s limited comprehension of the fabled name Rustam. His only association with his name was that of Rustam-e-Parzand (or winged Rustam) an acronym used by the Taliban to assert their omnipresence.
Referencing Firdausi’s mythical warrior Rustam, and his fall from grace when he mistakenly slays his adversary, his son Sohrab, Khadim Ali creates chilling parallels and twists between the victors and the vanquished and the rulers and the ruled under Talibanisation, in his miniatures. Rustam as an exhibition, celebrates and denigrates life, the works enchant and reprimand, are severe, foreboding and ominous yet lyrical and elevating with a promise of life, hope and trust. The interweave of cultural traditions like the lost art of storytelling, recourse to the romance of myth and fable in the creation of figurative imagery and novel use of calligraphy as textual narrative exert an inspirational presence without diluting the fundamental message — that of life under threat.
Also in London, Aicon Gallery hosted ‘Figurative Pakistan,’ an exhibition featuring the work of four Pakistani artists: Ijaz ul Hassan, Naiza Khan, Ahmed Ali Manganhar and Sana Arjumand. Seen in unison, the works enact and examine issues of concern as understood individually by these artists. Vacant, ambiguous images, variously titled ‘Hollow Man,’ ‘Negative Portrait,’ etc is how Ahmed Ali Manganhar expresses his sentiments on the evolution and role of power politics in Pakistani society.
Core issues like violation of gender sensitivities, prejudice and repression of women and consequent self assertion have been central to Naiza Khan’s work and under the title ‘Restore the Boundaries’ she enunciates this further in her drawings and emphatic metal sculptures on show at Aicon Gallery.
How the social and the political are being accessed by young minds is well put in the paintings of Sana Arjumand. Working with an idealist stance, she plays with the star and crescent of the national flag and the emblematic image of the Quaid with the heart and mind of a loyalist. Her take on gender bias, Mukhtaran Mai as the queen of hearts, is youthful and upbeat also.
Veteran Ijaz ul Hassan a political activist since the 1970’s has a number of well publicised critical works to his credit. Among his current contributions, ‘Terrorist’ and ‘Paper Tigers’ were spot on. Besides displaying of his works he also gave a talk at the inauguration of the exhibition.
Displays in the recent past include an exhibition of paintings by RM Naeem at Paradise Road Galleries, Colombo, Sri Lanka. The works conform to his much publicised signature of mystical paintings preaching universal love and harmony. Accomplished in the art of figure drawing he has now confined himself to a particular figurative vocabulary of genderless beings evoking a metaphysical state of spiritual transcendence.
A twin artist show ‘361 Hrs in Dialogue,’ by Sana Arjumand and Saima Ali, at Broadway Gallery in Amman, Jordan gave viewers of this city a sampling of new generation Pakistani art. Recent NCA graduates, these two artists have a number of group exhibitions to their credit and this exhibition in a foreign venue takes their work another step forward. When Sana Arjumand first exhibited her work at VM Gallery two years ago she already had an original style in the making. A mix of child art, caricature and comic graphics, hers was a naive expression defined by small bodied adolescent figures, outsized faces and large soulful eyes.
In the current show she handles her personal idiom with confidence and flair and there is greater harmony between her concepts and her pictorial imagery, than before. She still accesses reality via fantasy and this recourse to fable and fancy is the pull factor in her art. It disarms the viewer and bold social issues, even those with a sting, are rendered palatable. The artist can use this aspect to advantage.
Miniature art by Saima Ali centred on political critique, a very current and popular dimension of the genres contemporary vocabulary. Detailed works showing Osama bin Laden relaxing in a pool surrounded by American flags or George Bush dressed as a Spanish matador facing a raging bull created viewer engagement on account of subject and technique.
With next to no state support most Pakistani art exhibited abroad is organised through private enterprise. These individual efforts need to be recognised especially when the art is so closely representative of the country of its origin.
