December 18, 2004

When we met Nahid Raza was animated, talking with enthusiasm of the work she had seen recently on a visit to Lahore, describing it and the young up-and-coming artists who she said showed great promise. She was putting the finishing touches to a collection of paintings to be shown in Karachi having recently enjoyed a successful display in Islamabad, and her zest for life and art seemed to leap from her being to the new work.

For three decades Nahid has worked continuously, and is an incredibly strong painter. Her enthusiasm for art is one of her most endearing qualities, reminding one of the artists of an earlier generation, artists such as Parvez and Shakir Ali, whose life revolved around art and who took great pleasure in good work done by others. This joyful quality reverberates in Nahid’s paintings, in the vibrant surfaces, rich textures and excitement induced by variations of colour.

Applying paint in transparent layers that suffuse the surface with light, she evokes an abstract, diverse landscape that surrounds the subject. The remarkable exhibition of her work presented at the Canvas Gallery was well attended. Artists, students and enthusiasts gathered to view the latest canvases of undoubtedly one of the country’s leading artists.

For some years, Nahid has been raising gender issues, analyzing the state of women in a traditional patriarchy. Protesting against the subjugation of women, she raises concerns about the violence used in many areas of everyday life. In her latest collection it is interesting to observe that the strongest objections have emerged from the lack of ‘space’ women are accorded, in which to think, develop ideas and use their intellect.

Here she evokes the philosophy of the writer Virginia Wolfe, whose research led her to certain conclusions. She averred that there were few notable women authors in the history of literature, as women were never allowed a room of their own in which to work. In her paintings, Nahid creates the space she, and women in general, so desperately need. The work is so seductive, so moving, that one is led to the conclusion that the process of painting, the treatment of the surface is actually the subject of the artist’s work.

In this series the artist relishes the interaction between colours; how they change and create an art language that delights sensitive perceptions. All these factors combine to bring to the ‘Women ‘ series a spiritual experience that takes it beyond mundane concerns. Placing forms at angles that allow for maximum space, Nahid creates a sense of celebratory imaginative freedom.

Standing before the canvases, one is drawn into the variegated movement of the artist’s brushstrokes, she has put herself into the work and it pulsates with energy and the life force. Joining me at the gallery, Tasadaq Sohail was deeply appreciative of the collection of paintings. His words: “She could put a fly on the canvas and it wouldn’t be lonely”, referring to the marvellous treatment of the surfaces.

The more we explore these canvases with the gliding layers of colour, the more complexities are discovered. The densely worked outer areas framing the work evoke the implication of borders loosely guiding the overt activity back and forth across the canvas. These link the series to earlier work through motifs: birds, a widespread symbol of the soul in ancient cultures, are seen in the paintings enclosed in cages or fluttering freely around the recumbent forms. One discovers small fish, symbolizing fertility and procreation, and there are flowers, transient beauty on delicate stems.

The artist reiterates the continuation of a theme by adding various components; the possessive male is in evidence, in close proximity to the woman, or in the guise of a peacock. The restricting grid appears, faces, secretive with averted gaze or covered. While acknowledging the inspiration that has fuelled her imagination for some time, it appeared to me that the artist is in the process of making her signature subject, the point of departure in her work.