March 08, 2009

Indus Gallery, Karachi recently showcased more that 50 artworks by Sylvat Aziz, a Canada-based artist. Her multilayered and brightly coloured representational paintings are densely populated with imagery. Viewing her vibrant exhibits is like walking and living in the streets and lanes of Lahore and sharing the joys and miseries of its people.

Her photograph-based paintings address multiple aspects of art and life. She weaves stories of life, enjoyable as it is, on several separate sheets of paper which are interrelated and can be compiled in a book form. She makes a strategic choice of pop images such as horses, birds, and street decorations.

Aziz has reconciled the cultural images of her past with her current Canadian ones. The results are often a layering of messages and meanings, a mixture of the Asian and the Canadian that encourages a number of different readings. This layering, this multiplicity is the essence of her work.

Her canvases of paper are not framed traditionally; she has framed them in borders with her imagery and colouring. These contain a world of soil and seeds, symbols, associations and histories in a layered form and draw the viewer into a dialogue of personal vision, context and culture. The works focus on Lahore’s streets and lanes and in a subtle way bring out local differences and transcend national visions . A layman may take the exhibits as a joyride; but when looked at closely and understood, they draw attention to the fact that security and hope, pain and alienation are not restricted to particular cultures but are inherent to all.

Her images speak about an entire spectrum of influences. There is awareness of her maternal influences and immediacy to her own context. Her vibrant bright colours and traditional oriental designs show her interest in carpets.

Aziz, who moved to Canada more than two decades ago and keeps shuttling between Lahore and Ontario every year to maintain ties with Pakistan, says about her work: “The images profess a preoccupation with arbitrary demarcations regarding history, culture and distance; a crossing of borders in terms of cultures, influences and time that becomes a challenge to negotiate rather than a burden. They express a fascination with artificial lines that brings into question an entire people’s right ‘to be’ and a commitment to decipher the myths and contradictions of a culture through visual expression.”

Like her paintings, Aziz’s occupation is also multilayered. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Art in the Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. She received a BFA from the National College of Arts, Lahore; a Master’s degree in Comparative English Literature from Government College Lahore and a another one in Fine Arts from Concordia University, Montreal. She combines her artistic aesthete and comparative research skills in the style and content of her work.

Her artwork and research include issues of traditional representation, symbols and forms in architectural ornament, adaptation of industrial methods and materials to contemporary studio practice and cartography, political and applied problems in visual interpretation.