Rohtas II Gallery in Lahore took on a fascinatingly different look with the creative exhibition by artist Wardha Shabbir that was opened for public viewing just recently. As one entered the garden which led up to the gallery space, one noticed a chair covered entirely with green grass; the gallery stairs were similarly embellished. This was just a prelude to what awaited inside; the entire gallery was like a lush green garden, and in it was set the exhibition which included a appealing array of items and ideas.

Shabbir is a young 2011 graduate of the Nationa College of Arts,, Lahore. Majoring in miniature painting, she has already started making inroads into the international art scene, and will be participating in an art fair in Switzerland this year. Having viewed her recent work, it is not surprising that she is going places, for her creative and technical standards are beyond the ordinary.

In Shabbir’s ‘New works many metamorphosis’ at Rohtas II, both skill and ideas go into the making of a fascinating exhibition. For the viewer, the visual experience is both awesome and disturbing; awesome because of the original ideas, the painterly expertise and attention to detail, and disturbing because of the element of pain and sense of agony expressed through the imagery. The exhibition in its entirety is a cross between Alice in wonderland story, and a modern horror movie.

There are both paintings and installations that subscribe to this theme, so that one engages with two and three dimensional imagery all in the same space, and the impact of the theme thus becomes doubly potent. So while one viewed an array of engaging miniature paintings, one also felt the impact of a sculpture piece, and innovatively set up installations. The imagery in all of these revolved around hybrid creatures, which were invariably an amalgam of plants, animals and human forms, and seen often with the backdrop of a garden-like environment.

In the miniature painting, ‘Rose to the animal’ for example, one saw a form which had a human torso, with the head like a blooming rose and the feet like the claws of a rooster. Thorns sprouted from the arms of this creature and they locked the body in a painful embrace. Then, there was a sculpture in the form of a miniature tree. White in colour, its gnarled stems emerged in all directions, laden with flowers as well as tiny human heads grimacing with painful expressions. Butterflies were seen seated on some of the stems and added a delicate, poignant charm to the overall effect.

The installation showing a table and chair, again covered with green grass, was placed strategically in this ‘garden’, and on it was laid out a dish, cutlery and other items, including dead butterflies in a plate. There were scores of real butterflies collected by the artist that were placed in this exhibition, and the other ‘real’ entities include dead crows that had been stuffed and preserved and were seen at various sites in the enacted scenario.

The investment of time, energy, ideas, and even resources that Shabbir had invested in her unique exhibition was well worth it. Though seemingly macabre, the theme had been handled in a manner that was sensitive and delicate, so much so that the poem of Rumi seemed entirely relevant to the artist’s discourse:

 “I died to the mineral realm and became a plant,  I died to the plant realm and rose to the animal,  I died to the animal realm and became human…”