The collaboration of two acclaimed and prize winning artists, Atif Khan and the Australian artist Damon Kowarsky working together on a series of 20 etchings, has banished forever the stereotype of the solitary artist addressing and exploring themes. Both artists are the recipients of awards and have travelled extensively and shown their work across the globe. The exhibition, titled ‘Hybrid’, was shown simultaneously at ArtChowk Gallery, Karachi and in Melbourne at the Joshua McClelland Print Room.

Kowarsky studied printmaking at the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne and the Glasgow School of Art and has taught drawing at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore, while studying miniature painting with Mumtaz Murad and Mahreen Zuberi. In 2010, he taught printmaking at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture, Karachi, and exhibited his work at Alhamra Art Gallery, Lahore.

Atif Khan graduated from the National College of Arts (NCA), (with a distinction) in 1997, and the following year was awarded the Unesco Ashburg Bursary, completing a residency at Darat-Al-Funun, Amman. In 2007, he was appointed artist-in-residence in print workshops in Wales, London and Scotland, UK.

The two artists exchanged preliminary drawings by emails throughout 2012, and in October that year, Kowarsky travelled to Lahore to work with Khan in the Cowasjee Print Studio of the NCA. The results of the collaboration presenting a superb set of 20 etchings, with themes that include war, history, identity and cultural exchange.

There are aspects of miniature art in the delicately delineated leaves of a tree that one finds entrancing, only to be brought back to reality when viewing the artwork border patterned with guns. Other etchings include the Burak seen flying over a starkly plain fortress, while the wings of an angel fill the foreground of the work. Drones fly over the Earth and floods are seen invading a city depicted in a calligraphic style. A classically floral bordered miniature artwork surrounds the image of a gun emerging from the rise of a bleak landscape.

‘Rain’ is the title of an image that portrays clouds suggesting a miniature design, and raining down on a sleeping man; a beautiful etching of which an edition has been acquired by the Philadelphia Museum, US.

Historic figures worked in miniature styles are in evidence; an emperor flies an aeroplane on a string like a kite. One discovers an outline of Noor Jehan composed of high-rise city architecture, daintily sipping from an exquisite cup. A graceful plant is flanked by truck art birds and patterns, while in another artwork, Kowarsky's friend Jacob, examines a map of Lahore. One discovers decorative birds from a truck painting, flying to sit on the bare shoulder of a seated man.

‘Hybrid’ is an exhibition that has travelled extensively to wide acclaim. It was previously shown in Islamabad, and in the US at the Twelve Gates Art gallery, Philadelphia, before the superlative etchings were shown in Karachi; a superb example of artists understanding each other.